It showed that against a backdrop of improving white death rates in California, rural California is a veritable hot zone of white working-class mortality. Forty per cent of California counties (23 counties) voted for Donald Trump. Of those 23 counties, 21 of them are experiencing pronounced increases in death rates for whites aged 40-64. In some of these counties, white death rates have increased over 50% since the late 1990s. Our theory is that rapid shifts in the economy over this period without a meaningful social compact is the underlying cause of this epidemic of white death.

Source: The Guardian March 15, 2017 18:11 UTC