It’s not strange Ben Carson chose to become a Republican, considering his profession.
Carson is a black Marylander who grew up in poverty, making him a rather atypical Republican seeking the White House in 2016. But as a celebrated neurosurgeon, his political views are right on par with many in the field.
As a group, brain surgeons sit to the political Right in a medical profession that has increasingly shifted to the Left over the last few decades. While pediatricians, internists, psychiatrists and many other types of doctors overwhelmingly support Democrats, neurosurgeons are far more likely to vote Republican and give to GOP candidates.
For every obstetrician-gynecologist who is a Republican, there are two who are Democrats, according to research by Verdant Labs, which recently surveyed political views for dozens of professions. Family physicians are Democrats by a ratio of three to one.
But when it comes to neurosurgeons, two out of every three side with Republicans, according to Verdant. Neurosurgeons contributed seven times to Republicans what they gave to Democrats last year, according to Opensecrets.org.
That means that Carson has lots of colleagues solidly behind him.
“Neurosurgeons in general have a more libertarian bent or a leaning toward limited government and conservative principles in general,” said John Wilson, a neurosurgeon at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. “I think many of the things Ben Carson is standing up for and running for are feelings many neurosurgeons have.”
Until two years ago, Carson was known primarily as a top surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he served as head of pediatric surgery and famously led a team that successfully separated two conjoined twins in the 1980s.
But Carson has built a political profile after speaking alongside President Obama at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast and criticizing his healthcare law. He is considered a long shot for the presidency but has recently ascended in polls, including one this month by Monmouth University showing him leading the pack of more than a dozen GOP candidates.
He’s been keeping his friends close, addressing the American Association of Neurological Surgeons at its annual conference in May, the day before he announced his presidential bid. The group was the first major medical association to oppose the Affordable Care Act, setting it apart from the majority of health trade groups. The group’s political action committee doesn’t give to presidential candidates, but nonetheless applauded his run.
“We’re very proud and enthusiastic that Dr. Carson has decided to take this important step,” said Katie Orrico, a lobbyist for the group.
Physicians have dramatically increased their political giving over the last two decades, and it has shifted from Republican to Democrats, according to a research letter published in April in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Much of that shift was led by medical specialties, including surgery. Surgeons contributed 33 percent more to Republicans than did pediatricians in 1992 but the gap widened to 48 percent in 2012, according to the letter.
The trend is partly driven by the characteristics of neurosurgery itself, where men dominate and salaries are among the highest of any in the medical profession. Among doctors overall, 24 percent of females contributed to Republicans in the 2011-2012 election cycle while 52 percent of men contributed to the GOP.
The trend is true among neurosurgeons too: 71 percent of men gave to Republicans compared with 48 percent of women. And only about 7 percent of about 3,300 board-certified neurosurgeons in the U.S. are women, according to the neurosurgeons association.
Earnings play a big role in how doctors vote, too. The JAMA letter found that the percentage of physicians contributing to Republicans within each specialty was almost perfectly correlated to average earnings.
But ask surgeons to explain the difference, and they also point to traits often found among members of their profession, such as independence, pragmatism and efficiency.
“Fundamentally, the personality of the neurosurgeon is ‘just do it, don’t get in my way,’ ” Orrico said. “The political party that wants to try and remove barriers by and large is the Republican Party.”
Robert Harbaugh, past president of neurosurgeons association, speculates that the “individualistic nature” of surgeons and other specialists makes them more sympathetic to conservative views, whereas doctors in a more collaborative profession might tend toward liberal viewpoints.
While general practitioners must frequently coordinate patient care with other doctors, often responding to chronic problems, surgeons generally see patients when they’re facing a serious illness and need specific, immediate treatment, he said.
“I think the same type of personality traits that would lead someone to that kind of specialty might also lead them to a more conservative political viewpoint,” Harbaugh said.
