Needing a topic for a podcast, I initially thought that I would do something related to the arts (since the arts are my passion), but as I was exploring other topics, I became very interested in life expectancy in the United States. I found the disparity between life expectancy across different states especially interesting. The lowest life expectancy was about ten years less than the highest across the states, and the disparity seemed to correlate to whether a state was ‘Red’ or ‘Blue’ politically.
 
What were some states doing that earned their residents more years of life? And more importantly what were other states doing that got them less years of life? At first, it seemed that average resident income was the primary reason for the differences in life expectancy. When doing further research, however, I found that political beliefs impact critical public health policies that negatively affect life expectancy independent of a state’s GDP. 
 
I ultimately wanted to examine the question, “How does political ideology affect life expectancy in different states?” and, more specifically, explore possible politically influenced policy for the gaps by examining public health directives, differences in state-level response to COVID, and gun safety laws.