3 Category 1: Income as an explanatory variable in voting patterns

This category focuses on the income of each county, specifically the median income for the residents of each county over the past 12 months and the percentage of population for each county who are earning below the poverty level. Variable 1.1, median_income measures the median income for residents of a county who were born in that county, over the past 12 months. This variable is taken directly from variable code “B06011_001” in the Census data. Variable 1.2, perc_below_pov, measure the percentage of population of each county who earn below the poverty level over the past 12 months compared to the total population of the county. This variable is calculated by taking the population earning below the poverty level over the past 12 months for each county (“B17021_002”) and then dividing that by the total population of each county (“B01003_001”) before multiply by 100.