# The health costs of losing political representation: Evidence from U.S. Presidential Elections

## TL;DR

This paper shows that losing political representation negatively impacts health, including mental health, due to political sentiments and social isolation.

## Contribution

The study provides novel evidence linking political alignment to health outcomes using U.S. presidential election data.

## Key findings

- Lack of political alignment negatively affects health immediately and long-term.
- Political sentiments and social isolation are key mechanisms behind the health effects.
- The health effects are not explained by economic changes or policies.

## Abstract

We investigate whether a change in political leadership affects health outcomes. To do so, we exploit turnover elections that move partisan individuals into and out of alignment with the party of the President. We document that the lack of political alignment has a negative, immediate, and long-lasting effect on health. We do not find any evidence that our results can be explained by other confounding trends or by changes in economic outcomes or other economic policies. Further results suggest that political sentiments and social isolation are important potential mechanisms in this setting and that lack of political representation affects the mental health of individuals.