Study finds that fracking benefits Republican candidates

Voters in US congressional districts that experience shale oil and gas booms are more likely to kick out Democrat politicians and replace them with less environmentally friendly Republicans. That's the key finding of research by Viktar Fedaseyeu, presented at the annual congress of the European Economic Association in Geneva in August 2016.

His study analyses US election results since fracking began in the United States in 2003, and finds that the probability that a district would change its representative rose from 16% to 29%. But the change favours only one party: losses by Democrats increase by almost 23 percentage points, whereas shale booms have no effect on Republican incumbents, as longstanding Democrat voters switch sides. The new office-holders vote more conservatively on environmental protection, tax policies, civil rights and labour policies.

The author explains: 'Republicans, traditionally representing business interests, have supported fracking, while Democrats, traditionally representing environmental interests, have been more negative. As a result, local residents in shale areas may have increased their support for Republicans.'