Vote For [Brand Name Here]
If you enjoyed my previous post on the steak/sushi index, you will love this article in the NYT on microtargeting. This is where politics meets consumerism, as pollsters and strategists attempt to classify voters ever more precisely by dividing them up according to their spending habits on all sorts of things, including food. Republicans drink Dr Pepper; Democrats like Sprite. Clintonites eat Fig Newtons; McCainiacs go for stuffed-crust pizza. Blue-staters drink vodka and red-staters drink bourbon. If you're concerned about the price of arugula, you're probably voting for Obama. Not that he has a plan to do anything about it.
This is my favorite part of the article:
Mr. Navin offers an example from his firm’s ongoing survey that periodically asks 1,800 people in-depth questions about their lives. In last summer’s polling, the latest available, Mrs. Clinton scored high among voters who also had favorable views of McDonalds, Wal-Mart and Starbucks.
That led his team to conclude that Clinton supporters put a high value on national brands. Although the landscape in the Democratic race has shifted since the poll was conducted, Mr. Navin said, back then the name Clinton was the most popular national Democratic brand.
In other words, Hillary fans are people who like whatever's big, regardless of its actual merits. Now that Obama's creeping up in the polls, maybe she's wishing she had played to the less fickle Whole Foods voters instead.
This is my favorite part of the article:
Mr. Navin offers an example from his firm’s ongoing survey that periodically asks 1,800 people in-depth questions about their lives. In last summer’s polling, the latest available, Mrs. Clinton scored high among voters who also had favorable views of McDonalds, Wal-Mart and Starbucks.
That led his team to conclude that Clinton supporters put a high value on national brands. Although the landscape in the Democratic race has shifted since the poll was conducted, Mr. Navin said, back then the name Clinton was the most popular national Democratic brand.
In other words, Hillary fans are people who like whatever's big, regardless of its actual merits. Now that Obama's creeping up in the polls, maybe she's wishing she had played to the less fickle Whole Foods voters instead.