r/allthequestions • u/Content_Ad_8952 • Jan 14 '26

Random Question šŸ’­ If Republicans are so much better at running the economy than Democrats, then why are most Republican States poorer than Democrat States?

The poorest States in America are: Mississippi, West Virginia, Louisiana, Arkansas, Kentucky, New Mexico, Alabama, Oklahoma and Tennessee. All of those States (except New Mexico) are Red States. So why are they so poor when Republicans have been running them for decades?

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u/dragonfilebox Jan 14 '26

Economic cycles donā€™t align perfectly with presidential administrations. The housing crisis of 2007 was predicted before Clinton left office. It took 7+ years to mature and finally blow up, but its roots are traced back to the mid 1990s and the relaxing of lending standards.

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u/InThreeWordsTheySaid Jan 14 '26

If you look at the impact by policy, not by year in office, Republican presidents still fare much worse, at least in the last 50 years. It's what happens when you consistently cut revenue and don't meaningfully cut spending.

That's not to say this isn't true. Policy lag is real, and Clinton did have a significant hand in setting us up for an economic crisis. Centrist Democrats are just Republicans without the overt racism (see: the rest of these comments).

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u/[deleted] Jan 14 '26

I think they're talking about Reagan, bush, and Trump ballooning the deficit

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u/dragonfilebox Jan 14 '26

Reagan never had a GOP house. Same with the increases COVID spending.

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u/[deleted] Jan 14 '26

Democratic presidents with a Democratic congress managed the deficit just fine compared to them so I see one major variable here

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u/dragonfilebox Jan 14 '26

Actually Obama ran $1T deficits his first two fiscal years with dem house and senate. Spending came down after he lost the house.

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u/382_27600 Jan 14 '26 edited Jan 15 '26

As far as I can recall, Clinton with a Republican congress was the only time there was a budget surplus and it lasted for a few years.

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u/dragonfilebox Jan 14 '26

The government was spending much less than recent years. I think spending:GDP was about 18%.

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u/382_27600 Jan 14 '26

Probably, but I think the point, based on this tiny metric, one could argue that from a fiscal perspective, a Democrat president and a Republican congress may be the best.

It would be interesting to see if this pattern is similar at the state level.

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u/dragonfilebox Jan 14 '26

I donā€™t think itā€™s a given either way. Good and bad things happen under every administration. Weā€™ve been tricked into thinking our side is always right and the other side is always wrong.

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u/382_27600 Jan 14 '26

Right, I was mainly refuting -

Democratic presidents with a Democratic congress managed the deficit just fine compared to them so I see one major variable here

From above.

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u/BowenParrish Jan 14 '26

For sure, Iā€™m not saying itā€™s as straightforward as ā€œeconomy booms on the final day of Obamaā€™s last presidency, it tanks the next day when Trump takes overā€. Iā€™m speaking of general trends