Key figures from the chart
- Across all doctors in the sample who have a party registration, 46% are registered Republicans.
- Surgery has the highest Republican share at 67%, followed by anaesthesiology (65%), urology (62%) and ENT (61%).
- Infectious disease (23%), psychiatry (24%) and paediatrics (32%) have the lowest Republican shares.
- A second chart plots each specialty’s average salary against its Republican share; the trend line rises with pay.
- The sample is 34,532 physicians in 29 states.
All figures are from the graphic, which cites an analysis of the National Provider Identifier File and Catalist LLC voter file data by Eitan Hersh and Matthew Goldenberg.
Republican share by medical specialty
Chart 1 title: Surgeons are Red, Psychiatrists are Blue. Subtitle: Percent of doctors who have a party registration who are Republicans. Each specialty is a full width bar, red for the Republican share and blue for the rest, sorted from most to least Republican. Specialty names are kept as printed (US spelling).
| Specialty (as labelled) | Republican share shown | Remainder (our arithmetic, 100 minus the chart figure) |
|---|---|---|
| Surgery | 67% | 33% |
| Anesthesiology | 65% | 35% |
| Urology | 62% | 38% |
| ENT | 61% | 39% |
| Radiology | 59% | 41% |
| Ophthalmology | 57% | 43% |
| Physical/Rehab | 54% | 46% |
| Dermatology | 53% | 47% |
| Family medicine | 52% | 48% |
| Emergency | 51% | 49% |
| Cardiology | 49% | 51% |
| Gastroenterology | 49% | 51% |
| Pulmonary | 48% | 52% |
| Ob/Gyn | 47% | 53% |
| All doctors | 46% | 54% |
| Oncology | 43% | 57% |
| Nephrology | 43% | 57% |
| Pathology | 42% | 58% |
| Internal medicine | 41% | 59% |
| Neurology | 40% | 60% |
| Endocrinology | 40% | 60% |
| Geriatrics | 37% | 63% |
| Pediatrics | 32% | 68% |
| Psychiatry | 24% | 76% |
| Infectious disease | 23% | 77% |
Note under chart 1: Data from a sample of 34,532 physicians in 29 states. Source: Analysis of the National Provider Identifier File, and Catalist LLC voter file data, by Eitan Hersh and Matthew Goldenberg.
Chart 2, salary and party
Title: Republicans Cluster in High-Paying Specialties. Subtitle: Cause or effect? On average, the specialties with the highest salaries tend to have the most Republicans.
The scatter plot has Salary on the horizontal axis (ticks at $200k, 250k, 300k, 350k, 400k and 450k) and % Republican on the vertical axis (ticks at 40 and 60%). Labelled dots: Anesthesiology, Cardiology, Dermatology, Emergency, Family Medicine, Oncology, Internal Medicine, Ob/Gyn, Ophthalmology, Pediatrics, Psychiatry and Orthopedics, with several unlabelled dots and an upward sloping trend line. Orthopedics sits at the top right, with the highest salary and Republican share on the plot; Psychiatry and Pediatrics sit at the bottom left. Exact values for the dots are not printed.
Note under chart 2: Data come from a sample of 34,532 doctors in 29 states. Source: Analysis of the National Provider Identifier File, and Catalist LLC voter file data, by Eitan Hersh and Matthew Goldenberg; Medscape Physician Compensation Survey 2016.
Where the figures come from
Both charts were published by The Upshot at The New York Times on 6 October 2016, in an article by Margot Sanger-Katz [1]. The data were compiled by researchers at Yale, the political scientist Eitan Hersh and the psychiatrist Dr Matthew Goldenberg, who joined a public list of every doctor in the United States with the party registration records of voters in 29 states [1]. Medscape Medical News reported that the two data sets were the National Provider Identifier file and state voter information from Catalist LLC, a political data vendor [2].
The figures describe registered party affiliation in 2016 in those 29 states. They are not a survey of how doctors voted, and doctors who were not registered with a party are outside the percentages.
What the researchers and reporters said about the pattern
The Upshot reported that doctors overall were roughly split between the parties, with more than half of doctors who had a party registration identifying as Democrats, while some specialties had developed distinct political preferences [1]. The article put forward possible explanations without settling on one: initial sorting by medical students as they chose their fields, the experience of the work itself, pay, since higher paid fields tended to have more Republicans, and the growing share of women in medicine, as female physicians in the data were more likely to be Democrats [1].
Medscape quoted Howard Rosenthal of New York University, a co-author of an earlier study of doctors’ political donations, saying that the specialties with higher average earnings were the ones that were more Republican [2]. That study found doctors’ donations to Republican candidates fell from 70% in 1991 to 50% in 2011 and 2012 [2].
Notes on this infographic
- Data date: party registration data analysed in 2016, salary data from the Medscape Physician Compensation Survey 2016. The charts have not been updated since.
- The remainder column is our arithmetic. Medscape reported the same complements as Democrats, for example 77% of infectious disease specialists and 76% of psychiatrists [2]. The chart itself shows only the Republican share.
- Orthopedics appears on the salary chart but not as its own bar; the bar chart has a combined Surgery row.
- The vertical axis of chart 2 is labelled “60%” and “40”, as printed.
- The image has no publisher logo; the credit to The New York Times comes from the original article [1].
Questions about doctors’ party registration
What percentage of doctors are Republican?
In this 2016 analysis, 46% of doctors with a party registration in 29 states were registered Republicans. The share ranged from 67% in surgery to 23% in infectious disease.
Are most physicians liberal or conservative?
The data measure party registration, not ideology. By that measure The Upshot found doctors roughly split, with more than half of party registered doctors identifying as Democrats [1].
What percent of doctors are Democrats?
The Upshot reported that more than half of doctors with a party registration identified as Democrats [1]. By specialty, Medscape reported Democratic majorities of 77% in infectious disease, 76% in psychiatry, 68% in paediatrics and 63% in geriatrics [2].
Sources
- Margot Sanger-Katz, The Upshot, The New York Times, Your Surgeon Is Probably a Republican, Your Psychiatrist Probably a Democrat, 6 October 2016 (archived copy). The original article for both charts.
- Marcia Frellick, Medscape Medical News, Physician Specialties Correlate With Political Affiliation, 12 October 2016.
Last reviewed 30 October 2026
