Rand Paul's Wealthy Base

The results of last night’s Kentucky GOP Senate primary suggest that Rand Paul had a stronger appeal among affluent voters then low income voters, raising questions of just where Paul’s “Tea Party” and anti-incumbent appeal lies.

The results of last night’s Kentucky GOP Senate primary suggest that Rand Paul had a stronger appeal among affluent voters then low income voters. Despite running a better campaign then Trey Grayson, (even winning Grayson’s home county) the fact that Paul did not perform as well in poorer counties raises questions of just where Paul’s “Tea Party” and anti-incumbent appeal lies.

While it is still too early to have a full set of data, the available data suggests a positive correlation between the median income of a county in Kentucky, and Rand Paul’s win percentage. FrumForum calculated Rand Paul’s win percentages in each county, and compared them to the median income of each county. (Economic statistics available here, and county results available here.) The results are presented below:

The median family income for the entire state of Kentucky is $52,800. In counties with a median income higher then the state average, Rand Paul won a greater share of the votes, in many cases more then 60%, and certainly more then 50%. Paul did not win as many counties that were below the state's median income by as high a threshold, and in some of the poorer countries, got even less then 50% of the vote. Support for Rand Paul seemed to be a largely more affluent phenomenon.

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