[the_third_wave]

Yes, it is. It compares age-adjusted mortality rates without taking other factors into account. What this study shows is that upper middle-class urban and suburban voters - who are more likely to vote D - have a lower mortality rate than lower and lower middle-class rural voters - who are more likely to vote R. While the article states that [r]egardless of whether we looked at urban or rural areas, people living in areas with Republican political preferences were more likely to die prematurely than those in areas with Democratic political preferences it fails to notice that 'areas with democratic political preferences' in rural states tend to be more urban and as such have more upper middle-class D voters which resemble their ideological compatriots in coastal urban areas more than they have in common with the small town and rural R voters elsewhere in their rural states.

This may be just a classical correlation =/= causation error or it is campaign fodder for the upcoming elections.