Its the health, stupid!

An annual report that ranks the relative health of individual states based on 18 factors, including smoking, health insurance coverage, obesity and infant mortality supports the conclusion that health rather than moral values played a large role in influencing people's decision on their choice for President. People voted their health with 8 of the 10 healthiest states solidly aligning themselves with Kerry while the 15 least healthy states went for the incumbent.

Since the relationship is correlational causation cannot be inferred. It could be that voting for Bush makes people unhealthy or that people who are unhealthy are more likely to vote for Bush. Another possibility is that there is an intervening variable, whereby states that value health are more likely to have a population of healthy people and are also more likely to choose Kerry as a presidential candidate. More research is needed.

1. Minnesota

2. New Hampshire

3. Vermont

4. Hawaii

5. Utah

6. Massachusetts

7. North Dakota

8. Connecticutt

9. Wisconsin

10. Maine

35. Texas

36. Missouri

37. Nevada

38. New Mexico

39. Kentucky

40. Oklahoma

41. North Carolina

42. Florida

43. West Virginia

43. Alabama

45. Georgia

46. Arkansas

47. South Carolina

48. Tennessee

49. Mississippi

50. Louisiana

Data on health status provided by the United Health Foundation, American Public Health Association and Partnership for Prevention. Electoral data based on results as reported by CNN.