Republican-dominated states' disaster requests 89% approved... Democrat-dominated 23%

President Donald Trump approved 89% of disaster declaration requests from states where the governor and both federal senators are Republican, versus 23% for states where all three are Democrats, according to an EE News analysis published March 23 covering requests received through March 2026 since Trump's return to office. The comparison was limited to states with unified party representation, excluding mixed-party states. The analysis did not disclose the number of requests behind each approval rate, so the figures cannot be generalized to a national approval rate. The roughly 2,500 natural disaster records reviewed date back to 1979. The gap matters because disaster declarations unlock federal aid, and the missing request counts leave open whether the disparity reflects politics or the volume and severity of events in each state.