Doctors used to be GOP-backers but as more and more college-educated Democrats join the profession it is turning to the left, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
"More or less over a 20-year period, a profession that was always thought of as rock-ribbed Republicans has changed, and tilted to the Democratic side," Columbia University professor of social medicine David J. Rothman told the Journal. "That's a big deal."
The shift is in part because of an influx of women to the profession, which is now split 50-50, but also the business of medical care moving away from small practices to more employees of health systems, the Journal noted.
Also, the growing business of education has raised the cost of a medical degree, forcing many new doctors into years and years of debt, per the report.
Doctors are donating more and more to the Democratic Party, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, as 61% percent of national political campaign contributions by doctors went to the GOP. That was compared to 38% to the Democrats.
"By last year, those numbers had essentially flipped, with nearly two-thirds of physician campaign contributions going to Democrats while one-third went to Republicans," according to the report.
"A 2016 Gallup poll found that 35% of doctors considered themselves Democrats while 27% were Republicans and 36% identified as independents."
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