Democrat-led States Handled COVID-19 Worse Than GOP States

According to a study published by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, Democrat-led states handled COVID-19 worse than their GOP counterparts.

New York, New Jersey, and California all performed worse due to their draconian lockdowns. Meanwhile, Florida, Nebraska, Utah, and Vermont topped the list of best-managed states.

RELATED: Washington DC, Maryland Join States Relaxing COVID Mandates

Committee to Unleash Prosperity Report Shows Red States Handled COVID Better

The study graded states on how well they managed COVID based on three factors. These are the number of deaths, the economy, and the impact on education.

Published by the Committee To Unleash Prosperity, they ranked each state on how they performed relative to all three factors. 

The results show that Democrat-led states such as New York, New Jersey, and California received some of the lowest scores in the study.

They did not fare well because of their prolonged lockdowns and strict policies, which affected both the economy and education.

Meanwhile, states like Florida, Vermont, and Nebraska were among the best-performing states in the country.   

Democrat-led States Measured Poorly in CUP Study

Overall, the bottom 10 states on the CUPR’s report card belonged to Democrat-led states. They had the most severe and longest lockdowns.

They were also among the last states to reopen schools. Stephen Moore, the study’s co-author, and CUP founder said that Democrat governors made a number of mistakes along the way. Among them were “shutting down their economies and schools,” he said. 

The Committee’s final report card is an update to their earlier study on how well states managed the COVID situation.

In an earlier edition, the report initially praised the efforts of New York ex-Governor Andrew Cuomo.

However, the newer study indicated that the Empire State “performed poorly” on every metric. Eventually, the state ended up 49th worst. The only state worse than New York was New Jersey. 

California, New York, Performed Badly

Other states that also received an F report card were Democrat-led states such as California, Illinois, and Washington, DC. 

The study said that the majority of blue states featured high age-adjusted death rates, high unemployment, and significant GDP losses.

In addition, these Democrat-led states kept schools shut down longer than almost all other states of the Union. 

As a result, New York ranked 33rd among states for the least impact on education. It was also 49th in its economic performance during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, California ranked lowest in education and 40th in the economy. Locking the economy longer means a longer period of recovery.

The authors noted that lockdown states are two percentage points higher unemployment versus less restrictive states. Up to now, these states are still recovering from job losses. 

GOP-controlled States Finished At the Top In the CUP Study

Meanwhile, Republican-led states such as Utah, Nebraska, Vermont, and Florida came out as the best performers for the US.

The study reported that states that locked down businesses and schools did not have lower death rates than conservative states.

Comparatively, Florida ranked third for the least impact on education and 13th in economic performance. 

The Sunshine State also ranked 28th in mortality. GOP governor Ron DeSantis was one of the earliest proponents of easing up restrictions.

The state’s death rate was almost identical to that of California, which was more restrictive. In addition, keeping schools closed did not affect the number of deaths in children or adults, the study claimed.

Noted Economists Authored the Study

The Committee to Unleash Prosperity study’s authors include University of Chicago economist Casey Mulligan.

Stephen Moore of the Heritage Foundation and Phil Kerpen from the Committee to Unleash Prosperity also co-authored. The National Bureau of Economic Research published the updated study.  

Watch the Community To Unleash Prosperity video reporting that Americans want to go back to normal:

What do you think of the CUP study saying that Democrat-led states performed poorly in handling COVID in their areas?

Please Select One:

• This goes to show that fear-mongering is not the best way to manage a state when it comes to epidemics.
• Democrat-led states voters should carefully rethink who they want to vote for this November.
• COVID doesn’t care what measures you implement. So, states that ignored COVID and continued on fared better.
• Hopefully, this is a well-learned lesson for the federal and state governments.

View Results

 Loading ...

What do you think of the study showing GOP-governed states handled COVID better than Democrat-led states? Will the liberals now believe that letting the virus run its course helped shorten the need for lockdowns?

Let us know what you think. Share your comments below.