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Democrats More Politically Segregated at Work, Paper Finds
A study of 45 million US workers finds Democrats' coworkers are 11.7 points more Democratic than Republicans', even after controlling for industry and geography.
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A new study of 45 million U.S. workers found that Democrats are more politically segregated in the workplace than Republicans. The paper, published by Justin Frake, Reuben Hurst, and Max Kagan, reports that the average Democrat's coworkers are 11.7 percentage points more Democratic than the average Republican's. That gap shrinks to 2.9 points after controlling for geography, industry, and occupation, a figure comparable to gender segregation.
Political segregation is largest among those who donate to campaigns and among senior executives, the study found. The average Republican's coworkers are 50% Democratic, while the average Democrat's coworkers are only 32% Republican. Segregation levels changed little between 2012 and 2024, holding near 11 percentage points.
The pattern holds across industries and regions, indicating that workplace political sorting is not simply a function of where people live or what jobs they do. The study's findings suggest that workplaces reinforce political divides, with the most active and influential workers showing the highest segregation.