Blue States Have Fewer Divorces

The New York Times is reporting that blue states tend to have fewer divorces than red states. They cite a study that show the fewest divorces in the Northeast, while Kentucky, Mississippi, and Arkansas have the highest divorce rates.

The lowest divorce rates are largely in the blue states: the Northeast and the upper Midwest. And the state with the lowest divorce rate was Massachusetts, home to John Kerry, the Kennedys and same-sex marriage.

In 2003, the rate in Massachusetts was 5.7 divorces per 1,000 married people, compared with 10.8 in Kentucky, 11.1 in Mississippi and 12.7 in Arkansas.

"Some people are saying, 'The Bible Belt is so pro-marriage, but gee, they have the highest divorce rates in the country,' " said Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, co-director of the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University. "And there's a lot of worry in the red states about the high rate of divorce."

The article gives reasons such as faith, economic and education levels, and an emphasis on abstinence before marriage to explain the differences in divorce rates.