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THREAD: The coronavirus first hit Democratic areas in the U.S. These six charts show how it is now spreading into Republican territory. http://apne.ws/4T8JbYS
In the last week, counties that President Trump won in 2016 are seeing new cases at almost the same rate as counties that Hillary Clinton won, though cases are increasing for both groups.
The distribution of deaths has leveled off as well. The initial surge occurred in Democratic counties, which then saw a sharp drop in deaths per million residents. Trump counties moved upward, stabilized and then started falling, but at a lower rate.
States that Clinton won in 2016 accounted for considerable majorities of the earliest cases. But since then, the trend lines have taken opposite trajectories. States Trump won account for about three out of four of the newest cases.
COVID-19 deaths broken down by states’ presidential vote yields similar conclusions.
One clear pattern: a state’s governor seems to matter. New cases in states with Republican governors – regardless of how those states voted in 2016 – now considerably outpace those in states run by Democrats.
The pattern is repeated when looking at deaths. States with Republican governors have seen an increase as an overall share of the national total. Democratic-run states, meanwhile, have dropped over time.
You can read the full story on AP’s analysis of coronavirus case data in the U.S. here. http://apne.ws/8iMK8lr
