Last week's presidential elections, chaotic and marked by races "too close to call"” have nonetheless reaffirmed that, at least in Washington, the two parties now speak for markedly different segments of the U.S. economy.
President Donald Trump carried 2,497 counties across the country that together generate 29% of the American economy, according to a new study by the Brookings Institution. President-elect Joe Biden won 477 counties that together generate 70% of U.S. Gross Domestic Product.
Republicans represent a far greater number of smaller counties with less-educated, more-homogenous workforces that, on average, tend to rely on manufacturing, agriculture and mining.
Democrats represent a smaller number of densely populated and diverse metropolitan counties fueled by service-oriented industries like finance, professional services and software.
That’s similar to the 2016 results, when Brookings showed that the nearly 2,600 counties Trump won generated 36% of the country’s output versus the 472 counties that Hillary Clinton won that produced 64%.
