Physicians were once "America's quintessential Republicans," but industry and workforce changes, among other trends, have produced what The Wall Street Journal calls a "historic shift" to medical professionals supporting the Democratic Party.
Citing data from the Center for Responsive Politics, The Wall Street Journal reports that roughly two-thirds of physicians' political donations went to Democratic candidates in 2018, and one-third to Republicans. In 1990, the ratio was inverse.
The shift to the political left is due partially to increased employment among physicians. Physicians are also increasingly female and live in urban areas, demographics more commonly associated with Democratic support, according to the report. Trump-era healthcare policies and skepticism of science also drove more physicians to the left, WSJ reports.
This political migration is also reflective of a larger shift among college-educated Americans to left-leaning politics, according to the report.
Republican physicians tend to be older or practice a higher-earning specialty, according to the report. Read more on the implications of this shift on healthcare here.
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