You can click on the graphs to see them full sized.
Thomas Edsall in the New York Times puts up some more of those political / marketing research graphs I showed in Taki's Magazine two years ago. They are from National Media Research, Planning and Placement and show Democrat-Republican skew on the left-right axis and propensity to vote on the vertical axis. Here, for example, the most Democratic-leaning clientele of restaurants belong to Church's Chicken, Popeye's (chicken), White Castle, and Chuck E Cheese's. This may help answer the classic Daily Mail headline Why has children's party restaurant Chuck E. Cheese become a hot spot for grown up brawling?
Thomas Edsall in the New York Times puts up some more of those political / marketing research graphs I showed in Taki's Magazine two years ago. They are from National Media Research, Planning and Placement and show Democrat-Republican skew on the left-right axis and propensity to vote on the vertical axis. Here, for example, the most Democratic-leaning clientele of restaurants belong to Church's Chicken, Popeye's (chicken), White Castle, and Chuck E Cheese's. This may help answer the classic Daily Mail headline Why has children's party restaurant Chuck E. Cheese become a hot spot for grown up brawling?
Edsall, who seems a little naive, presents a graph of alcoholic beverages by partisan identification and asks: "Who would have guessed that the most Democratic drink by a long shot is Cognac[?]" I gather Edsall is not a big hip-hop fan.
A lot of the differences in the politics of consumption are of course racial, and others are regional. Arby's, for example, is apparently weak New England.
The comments on the New York Times article are pretty funny in their lack of enthusiasm, because much of the point of being a Democrat is to feel classier than Republicans, but when you actually count Democratic-leaning people, including all the NAMs, you get a pretty prole bunch:
That was the lesson of the Florida Recount Hoo-Ha of 2000: that Democrats would win more elections if their voters could manage to show up and mark their ballots in an intelligible fashion.
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62 comments:
Cracker Barrel sounds about right.
Fascinating stuff.
Predictably, pizza is popular among those least likely to vote. Cheap food = low SES = no vote. But the biggest chains don't skew one way or the other.
But the differences between Chuck-E-Cheese and CiCi's are interesting. I notice that buffets skew towards Republicans - I assume this is because of larger families with kids.
But for *some* reason those same conservative families aren't going to Chuck-E-Cheese for their kids' birthdays.
Lexus and BMW are preferred by Republicans but Audi and Mercedes by Democrats. Huh? And look at Volvo. That one is really surprising.
I'm going to assume Dems also prefer Newport cigarettes, really shiny, expensive shoes, and any foods that will induce diabetes as quickly as possible.
Panera Bread & Starbucks are GOP-leaning? I guess there aren't enough upscale liberals to drive these plots.
Judging by my restaurant preferences, I must be a low-voting Democrat. All I can say is that chicken & waffles is an objectively delicious combination.
Surprised that wannabe-Parisian-boulangerie Panera is Rep skewed but then again I've never seen anyone under 40 in there, except behind the counter
Surprised at how Republican Arby's skews. Makes it even stupider that their uber-Democrat CEO Hala Moddlemog made a big show of pulling their ads from the Rush Limbaugh show.
Well, Schlotzsky's is a GOP standby going back to Reconstruction at least. It's said Grant preferred to luncheon there
I'm sure there's a reason why 3 fried chicken franchises lean democrat.
I'm sure that reason is racism.
TGGP,
Perhaps this ties into the discussion of trendiness at Overcoming Bias. Initially Panera and Sbux were more liberal, but over time the customers who are more hesitant to try new or trendy joints have finally moved in.
personals/dating sites skew Dem in the 40-point range--geez, what a counterintuitive discovery there. Of course anybody paying attention would have figured as much, or had it further confirmed when that Orville Redenbacher guy shilling e-Harmony was being denounced as a theocratic Klansman or whatever
Some of Edsall's graphs are overtly hilarious. I'm surprised they are posted at NYT.com, frankly.
I read through a few comments below the article, and found several that seemed seriously to question how the viewers of the sitcom 'Big Bang Theory' could skew Republican, because Republicans (everyone knows) don't understand science. The commenters theorized that Republican viewers must not realize the show is satire that's meant to be funny. From all I could tell, these comments were meant to be serious.
I find this almost beyond comprehension. That VA social scientist Jonathan Haidt has been peddling research that shows conservatives understand liberals, but not so much vice versa. I didn't take it all that seriously, but I'm really starting to wonder.
"Democrats would win more elections if their voters could manage to show up and mark their ballots in an intelligible fashion."
Especially the ones that voted for Buchanan.
Um, Steve, I think you mean Bruha. Hoo-ha refers to the vagina.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hoo+ha
I only heard about the hip-hop/cognac connection a couple years ago. I had always assumed cognac was a fusty old white guy/functioning alcoholic with a tie drink. There I was being all trendy with my Hennessy and I didn't even know it.
Looks like it's mostly time preferences being shown, with future-oriented people in the upper right and now-oriented in the lower-left.
(Those graphs don't really have two separate variables, as the points lie mostly on a single line.)
And look at how "far" into the future some of the upper-right things are, like checking the Weather Channel or using the web to check the weather. Apparently even thinking about later in the day, at most the next few days, is enough to make you future-oriented.
The lower-left uses of the web are joyless addictions, the mark of people trapped in the present. Essentially all forms of illegal downloading. No thought, no fun, just getting stuck on a treadmill of downloading one mp3 after another, or movie, or video game, or TV show.
(No thought and no fun even when they consume those files later on, given what music, TV shows, and movies they're downloading.)
The food graph is the same -- gimme-now places in the lower left, and we-don't-mind-waiting places in the upper right.
Also looks like stimulants are for future-oriented people -- fuel to get all of that work or activity done? Yuppie coke-snorters in the '80s, Paul Erdos and Philip K. Dick pumping out works while on speed, and so on. That explains why Starbucks leans toward the future-oriented people.
Getting really tanked, then, is for trapped-in-the-present people. Hard liquors are over on the Dem-leaning side, and it's generally beers on the Repub-leaning side.
If you're stuck in the moment, there's not always something exciting going on, so you might as well go into hibernation until the fun picks up again. Hence the resort to downers.
Hard liquor also acts faster than beer, again showing that it's about time preferences. (Hogarth's Beer Street and Gin Lane.)
Chipotle is another SWPL-ish chain that oddly enough skews Republican. I would rank it up there with Panera and Starbucks as the most surprising.
"Um, Steve, I think you mean Bruha"
I'm guessing brouhaha or hoopla.
I found the linear nature of the graphs interesting. Are Republicans more likely to turnout, or is it like agnostic said, a demonstration of time preferences? Why is there nothing that appeals to the low turnout Republican?
Chart 1: Why are black people supposed to be offended about liking fried chicken? They clearly do, and it tastes great.
Chart 2: Where is "view porn" on the chart, or is it such a large circle that it wouldn't fit?
My take on Volvo is they have never skimped on safety, nor power and size and so they hit a sweet spot between different tastes.
Volvo is the happy medium between Range Rover and Prius.
"Chart 1: Why are black people supposed to be offended about liking fried chicken? They clearly do, and it tastes great."
Because if you notice one, fairly innocuous thing that black people seem to do a lot more than white people (like eating fried chicken), it means you might notice other things black people do a lot more than white people (like murder and rape).
"Lexus and BMW are preferred by Republicans but Audi and Mercedes by Democrats"
Well, I know that lots of middle and upper class blacks love their Mercedes. It's one of those status symbols they simply must have, and if they have to choose between buying a Mercedes and buying a house, many will rent a residence and buy a Mercedes. I personally think Mercedes are overpriced and a pain in the ass to maintain, which is probably why practical-minded white people with money to burn prefer Lexus and BMW.
Cracker Barrel sounds about right.
This is the kind of comment that Truth SHOULD be leaving. It is funny.
"Where is "view porn" on the chart, or is it such a large circle that it wouldn't fit?"
that was my thought. it's all the dark matter in the background, too omnipresent to skew one way or another, exerting unseen influences on everything.
"...much of the point of being a Democrat is to feel classier than Republicans, but when you actually count Democratic-leaning people, including all the NAMs, you get a pretty prole bunch"
Conservatives should use this conceit to their advantage. We can pose online as democrats to argue for the institution of a voter test to disenfranchise dumb republicans.
"Chart 1: Why are black people supposed to be offended about liking fried chicken? They clearly do, and it tastes great."
I wonder this too. Fried chicken is delicious.
Black people aren't offended by liking fried chicken. They're offended by people noticing they like fried chicken.
The lack of "viewing porn" or "downloading porn" on that chart likely significantly skews the results. Did they not include it because it would eclipse all the other bubbles and make the chart unreadable?
Black people aren't offended by liking fried chicken. They're offended by people noticing they like fried chicken.
Yeah, I think Scott has the right idea on fried chicken. I love the stuff also, but apparently, if you associate black people with fried chicken (or watermelon, but seriously, who doesn't like watermelon?) then its racist or something.
Unless its Popeye's, they can get away with it.
I'm somewhat surprised to see Starbucks as more Republican. I always thought of it as a gathering spot for liberal college students, writers and academics.
I actually read about this once (Starbucks image vs. reality) in Carrie McLaren's old zine, Stay Free. After the '99 WTO protests/vandalism, the guys back at Seattle HQ supposedly went to the extent of hiring professional hypnotists to figure out why (certain) twentysomethings nursed such deep-seated rage against the coffee corp. One response arising from these various sessions was relayed as, "I see all the people inside the store and the only one who looks like me is at the register." Wish I could pull up the source on that but then again it's truly TGTC.
agnostic:
Also looks like stimulants are for future-oriented people -- fuel to get all of that work or activity done?
Getting really tanked, then, is for trapped-in-the-present people.
What about the stuck-in-the-past (not present or future) people; what is their drug of preference?
Predictably, pizza is popular among those least likely to vote. Cheap food = low SES = no vote. But the biggest chains don't skew one way or the other.
Who here is old enough to remember a time when only Italians ate pizza?
Another odd thing about Panera Bread's Republican skew is the fact that it seems to be especially popular among women, and women tend to vote Democratic more than men. Chili's is another strange case with its Republican leanings. Every time I've been to a Chili's it always seems to attract a young crowd,such as teenagers on dates, or groups of 20something friends, and younger people usually lean Democratic. The same is true for the Olive Garden, to a lesser extent.
Anon 12:08, that's so true. I'm sitting in Starbucks right now and the workers are younger than the average customer by about 20 years.
What people fixate on about Starbucks is the $5 coffee drink, ignoring the fact that, at least here in my neighborhood, a large dark roast at Starbucks is $2.25, while the large coffee-flavored substance at Dunkin' Donuts is $2.40. Add in that, if you have their loyalty card, refills are free at Starbucks, as well as a shop set up to hang out, I'm surprised that people are surprised by how their customer base skews.
Do they still play bebop jazz (e.g., Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie) at Panera's? I always felt smarter with bebop playing softly in the background. It's one of those kinds of music (Stravinsky is another) that I wouldn't sit down and listen to, but I'm awfully impressed by.
In case nobody's noticed, Chuck-E-Cheese is where divorced dads take their kids during weekend visitation. I've seen advice to single mothers to go to Chuck-E-Cheese to find decent, available men. In Derb-approved neighborhoods, that's probably good advice.
Spread the manosphere gospel to the dads at Chuck-E-Cheese, and they'll probably start trending Republican soon enough.
Are these dems or repubs?
Another odd thing: why would TGI Friday's be Democratic-skewing, lower-turnout while Applebee's is Republican-skewing, higher-turnout? Both chains have very similar menus at very similar prices and both are located in the same type of locations.
"Black people aren't offended by liking fried chicken. They're offended by people noticing they like fried chicken."
The degree to which some of them like it, though, can be hysterical. In high school I worked at an upscale restaurant that was inside an upscale hotel. They seldom had many black guests there, but when they did (mostly just when all the other hotels were booked), they'd often call down asking if fried chicken was on the menu.
There was even one case where the hotel botched up with a black guest, and offered to comp their dinner. They could've had anything, free, from a fairly expensive menu. Our room service guy took them up a bucket of KFC. It was like a black version of The Beverly Hillbillies.
I love fried chicken, too, but if anyone ever offers me a free dinner from a 4 star restaurant, I ain't gunna ask if they can send out to Popeye's.
HIP-IHOP
http://youtu.be/GykYgOb2VNw
Negroes.
http://youtu.be/lcjRSMm-UM8
If blacks treat other blacks this way, how would they treat other people?
And how come there's so much discussion of black IQ but so little discussion of black physicality that is the REAL threat to social order? Is it just too hurtful to white male pride?
How can TGI Fridays and Applebees be so far apart? Aren't they basically the same place?
Who would have guessed that the most Democratic drink by a long shot is Cognac[?]
Poor bastard. You see him take a step, you hear the click. Right on a mine.
Fortunately for him, if a mine goes off in the jungle,and there's no one there to hear it, it doesn't make a sound.
Who here is old enough to remember a time when only Italians ate pizza?
Last night in a SF pizzeria a 50-ish Chinese couple was telling the proprietor that they learned about the place from their Pakistani physician.
I think it's pretty well known that Holland invented chicken n' waffles and also has all those Democrats like the Roosevelts and Dick Van Dyke.
Incidentally I do hope Uncle Omar's recent malign experiences related to the Chicken Bone Saloon on Route 135 don't contribute to this stereotype threat. That could happen to anyone.
How can TGI Fridays and Applebees be so far apart? Aren't they basically the same place?
Like two peas in a pod.
Ruby Tuesday is very similar to both of them, and in terms of customer politics is sort of in-between but closer to Applebees.
"Who here is old enough to remember a time when only Italians ate pizza?"
I'm old enough to remember when the only pizza the non-Italians I knew ate was Chef Boy-Ar-Dee boxed pizza you made yourself. It tasted good, I thought, but it sure was hard to make. Oh, and everyone I knew who mentioned pizza called it "pizza pie". Like in "That's Amore".
"I read through a few comments below the article, and found several that seemed seriously to question how the viewers of the sitcom 'Big Bang Theory' could skew Republican, because Republicans (everyone knows) don't understand science."
I'm surprised it skews republican because it is the most Jewish show since Seinfeld. Even the main character, Sheldon, is Gentile in name only. The one Dark person is an Indian. The dumb people are Gentiles, not in name only. I remember seeing two blacks on the show, one was a arrogant DMV employee and the other an arrogant movie theater usher.
There are white nerds like these guys, but I've never met a black nerd who would fit in with the cast. Token black nerd characters always exude Steve Urkel-type phoniness.
I don't know how the show doesn't get called out on its exclusion, but some whites don't get watched as closely as others.
I'm a righty whitey and I love the show. These charts seem pretty accurate.
In New York area, blacks seem to flock to chain restaurants or tourist traps, where they behave typically. They make a game out of humiliating the wait staff and they try to get food for free. They are super loud and play an endurance game by staying for hours. I always feel they are trying to provoke a racial epithet to justify a jackpot lawsuit.
But when I go to a family Italian restaurant in a mostly black neighborhood, the blacks are completely different. The owners have an almost entirely male wait staff and if blacks dine, they are never served by the waitresses. Every corner of the place has Italian men watching the room speaking to each other softly in Italian. I'm amazed how civilized black diners can be when they know there is a group of Italians of questionable immigration status observing them closely.
Ive been trying to go to the Olive Garden for years, just to see what it's like, but I always end up sitting on a bench outside with a gang of NAMs holding a vibrator. I always give up. Maybe I'll venture another try if I visit a white state.
Red Lobster? I have never seen a white person enter one around here. Do they have metal detectors?
CJ said...
"Hala Moddlemog"
Isn't that a character from LOTR?
"I'm somewhat surprised to see Starbucks as more Republican. I always thought of it as a gathering spot for liberal college students, writers and academics."
For lefties, independent coffee shops are still the norm. Coffee doesn't require as much training as food to get right. You don't have to have great recipes for 50 different menu items, so coffee shops don't benefit from economies of scale as much as restaurants do. I much prefer indie coffee shops. The ambience is usually more laid back, and I don't feel like they're trying to push me out the door.
"I'm surprised [Big Bang Theory] skews republican because it is the most Jewish show since Seinfeld. Even the main character, Sheldon, is Gentile in name only."
It skews Republican...because it's an intelligent show, and because, in spite of all the sleeping around and bashing of Sheldon's mother's religious beliefs, it's basically conservative at heart. And whatever your attitude about "BBT," it's better, from a Republican perspective, than about 98% of the alternatives.
Sheldon is not gentile "in name only." His character is very typical of a Southern, Anglo-Saxon, lapsed born-again Christian nerd. Yes, they exist. His character is about 60% of the show, with Cuoco's another 30%. It's got some smart writers, but without Jim Parsons "BBT" wouldn't have even managed a second season.
And Leonard Hofstadter technically isn't Jewish, either, in spite of his name. I'm not sure if his ethnic/religious background has ever been fully clarified, but he is probably the 'Jewish in all but name' to which you refer.
One thing I love about BBT is how accurate all the stereotypes are. The men are all into physical sciences while the women prefer the natural sciences. They seldom (if ever) throw in a black physicist just to please the Diversicrats. If anything it's less Asian than it should be, but since it's the small world of Sheldon and Leonard, it doesn't have to be representative.
The most Jewish show of all? "House." It's so Jewish they even made the Indian guy a Jew. Plus, "House" actually does (did?) have the token black guy.
"The dumb people are Gentiles, not in name only."
I'm not sure which dumb people you're referring to. There really aren't that many on the show. There is Penny- dumb, and gentile - but who the hell doesn't love her?
"But when I go to a family Italian restaurant in a mostly black neighborhood, the blacks are completely different. The owners have an almost entirely male wait staff and if blacks dine, they are never served by the waitresses. Every corner of the place has Italian men watching the room speaking to each other softly in Italian. I'm amazed how civilized black diners can be when they know there is a group of Italians of questionable immigration status observing them closely."
Yes. Though blacks mostly seem to lack internal policing, they do respond to external policing.
"Red Lobster? I have never seen a white person enter one around here. Do they have metal detectors?"
I'm in the Midwest. Here, patrons of Red Lobster are mostly white. Blacks tend to frequent Long John Silvers. I've never seen a metal detector at any Red Lobster I've patronized but then again, I seldom go to chain restaurants any more.
"Who here is old enough to remember a time when only Italians ate pizza?"
In the early 1950s my WASP parents ate pizza for the first time. A family friend [her husband worked with my father] who, while born in the US, spoke only Italian until she went to elementary school, brought some hommade pizza over.
So, the first pizza I ate didn't come from a restaurant.
Big Bang Theory, like Two and a Half Men before it, makes me want to vomit.
Here's one good example of how "BBT" gets the demographics right: a roomful of academics almost completely white or Asian (with one or two bruthas, but way in the back).
Another example where they get the demographics (almost) right.
A neutron walks into a bar and asks the bartender how much for a drink. Bartender: "For you, no charge." Bazinga!
A popular comedy where they routinely discuss science and where they aren't afraid to accept the demographics. It's what Law & Order would be like if all the criminals were actually NAMs. What's not to like?
OT: I'm always dubious when people blame Jews for one thing or another, so their being behind the 1965 immigration reform is ... well I'm not a scholar. Anyway, from a Latina at HuffPo:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gabriel-lerner/semana-latina-jews-latinos_b_1441738.html
> The major Jewish organizations in the U.S. repeatedly published statements of support for immigration reform and the DREAM Act.
> For us Latinos, the organized Jewish community has been an important ally in the quest for an immigration reform.
So 1965 aside for the moment, I guess it's official.
I'm surprised this blog has never mentioned The Big Bang Theory, because it is a huge hit about brilliant childless white men - great minds apparently on a path to a genetic dead end.
not victor serebriakoff,
There is a disconnect on the subject of immigration between the leadership of the major Jewish organizations and ordinary Jews.
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/national/curve_ball_jewish_leaders_immigration
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