Politics behind the wheel

Apr 03, 2008 in Candidates, Economy

I received an article today from one of our readers entitled “Ford Trucks, Mercedes, Subaru or Porsche Cars: Does your vehicle say you are Republican or a Democrat?” While most of the results from the unscientific poll are obvious (at least to me), I thought we could have a light-hearted Friday fun by sharing our own vehicle types and political leanings to see how it matches up. First, the results from the poll listed in the article:

Type of car	Likely vote	% of Republicans	% of Democrats
Sedan/Coupe	Toss-up	36%	50%
Hatchback	Democrat	2%	9%
Sports Car	Toss-up	8%	5%
SUV	Toss-up	29%	22%
Minivan	Toss-up	5%	4%
Pickup Truck	Republican	15%	3%
Other types	Toss-up	5%	7%

The obvious statistic in this poll is that Republicans drive pickup trucks. If you travel anywhere in the Southern states or Texas, pickup trucks and dealerships are everywhere. The same is true with many American-made SUVs. As far as Democrats and hatchbacks go, I don’t see what the connection would be between the two, unless you take into account many of the Hybrid vehicles on the road. Also contained in the article is the breakout on imports, so for our survey, list the following (my selections listed):

Political party (Republican, Independent, Democrat): Independent
Type of car (Sedan/Coupe, Hatchback, Sports car, etc): Sedan
Manufacturer (Ford, Honda, BMW, etc): Mercury

I will incorporate your responses into the following chart, and we’ll see how well it matches up with the survey above. Hopefully we’ll have enough responders (more than 20) to begin to see if there is a pattern. So I ask, after you vote, share this article with your friends so we can their input as well. Maybe U.S. News and World Report will be interesting to see our results!

Type of car	Likely vote	% of Republicans	% of Independents	% of Democrats
Sedan/Coupe	Independents	44%	80%	0%
Hatchback	Republicans	11%	0%	0%
Sports Car	Republicans	11%	0%	0%
SUV	Democrats	22%	0%	83%
Minivan	Toss-up	0%	0%	0%
Pickup Truck	Toss-up	11%	0%	17%
Other types	Independents	0%	20%	0%

Type of car	Likely vote	% of Republicans	% of Independents	% of Democrats
Domestic	Independents	22%	33%	17%
Import	Toss-up	78%	67%	83%

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Anok

"That’s one thought, but maybe Republicans drive pickups more than democrats because they are ‘Work’ vehicles……"

Which means.....?

A disgruntled Republican

I drive a 1996 Mercury Sable. It is a very noticeable emerald green color. I don't know how much significance this has to political opinion. I have owned foreign cars, once owned a Volvo and once a Peugeot (probably liberal cars?). I would never buy a new car. I am too practical to loose that much value so rapidly. I'm too furgal for new. (a conservative value?) I would not drive an SUV, but I would drive a pick-up truck.

Snippet

"I think that this is roughly correct. The stupid and the uneducated (you can find many of those among the Democrats, but largely among the Republicans) tend to drive the large, badly-designed, lousy American SUVs and pickups.

Posted by politicus | April 3, 2008, 11:55 pm"

That's one thought, but maybe Republicans drive pickups more than democrats because they are 'Work' vehicles......

Cato

I drive a Dodge minivan. But if I had my druthers, it would be a Honda Civic or some other kind of small, zippy car.

I am Republican, but only because I *have* to be (vote in primaries in NYS). I'm a Federalist Constitutionalist like Ron Paul. I'm more conservative than Ronald Reagan.

durano lawayan

I'm an independent who's leaning towards Democrats in this particular election year, and I drive an SUV. A Honda CRV. :-)--Durano, done!

Timothy W Price

I think that what you drive reflects more on your personality than what party you belong to ?

I know Republicans that drive a high bird car does that make them
a Democrat ?

Or how about those that drive sports cars like I do ?
What do you think I am ?
*( D - R ) *
Bishop Timothy W Price :

Administrator

Well, out of the 20 responses, which answered "most" of the survey, it is obvious that most of you prefer imports rather than domestics. BAD AMERICANS! hahaha... well, not really since some of these "imports" are actually built in the US.

Looking at the vehicle types, the results in our poll for Republicans resemble the poll by U.S. News and World Report. In both polls, Republicans prefer sedans, SUV's, and pickups (in that order) the most. All other results were different, and that might have something to do with the breakout of Independents in my poll.

For the percentage of respondents:
Republicans - 45%
Independents - 15%
Democrats - 30%

Thank you for participating! If we receive a significant number of responses later this evening and/or tomorrow morning, I will update the results.

Sapphire

I don't own a car. I don't have membership in any political party and I am not an American but I would say my political leanings are more to the left of the spectrum. :-)

PD

Republican SUV

Administrator

The BoBo: I have a feeling the author was comparing the relative difference between the two, and not the mathematical. So, while there might only be 7% points separating the Republicans and Democrats in regards to hatchbacks, Democrats had 4 times the number of respondents than Republicans.

Blue Licorice: No, you're not blind. This was a respond-by-comment type of survey. I'm not very high-tech when it comes to online survey's yet. Besides, a form survey could not reflect the details in your comment. :)

Poli Kicks: No, not a scientific survey at all. This is just for fun to see if we mimic any of the responses provided in the U.S. News and World Report unscientific survey.

And for everyone else... Thanks for your responses so far! KEEP THEM COMING! I will update the chart this evening when I get home.

Anok

Oh, and thanks for the shout.

Anok

Anarchist - and I drive a type III V-Dub. Or will be, as soon as I finish restoring it, complete with some sort of gas conversion kit. ;)

Poli Kicks

Well, have we corrected for the type of cars distribution in the different parts of the country? What comes first, the chicken or the egg?
For example (bad one-don't pick on Texas;-), if there are more pickup trucks in Texas (no sure there are) and also independently there are more Republicans in Texas (not sure about that either) then the US wide results may wrongly show that Republicans tend to drive pickup trucks. That's why this is a VERY unscientific survey.

Blue Licorice

Guess I am being blind this morning but I see no link to your poll.

If you want to put the info in yourself, I am registered Democrat this year and I drive a Honda CRV LX. Yep, an SUV, and a small one. We picked it because we wanted something larger but that got better mileage than a full sized SUV. I have needed a bigger one many times, one that transports more than 5 people. When we all go somewhere, there are 7 of us, Lord a Mercy.

Verlin Martin

'03 Mits. Gallant -- Republican :)

BURAOT

i drive a mini cooper.

jsinkeywest

oh sorry for being rude-Site looks awesome Thanks for the invite Keep up the great work:)

jsinkeywest

I drive a mercedes and I don't like democrats or republicans cause they drive em to but I worked for mine.So
SO choosing Dem or Rep is like pick your poison,they hell with them all.
waiting for the Revolution:)

Malaysia Digest

I support Democrat. I'm driving Toyota RAV4

Tom Hanna

'68 MGB when it's running. Republican, Libertarian.

Len

Democrat, SUV, Isuzu Rodeo. (Hey, it's a small SUV and I live in Texas. OK?)

jasonthe

96 Toyota Tacoma

Radically left.

Chris McCormick

I drive a Honda Element, and I am a Democrat

VulcanHammer

Registered Republican: 2001 Toyota Echo and 2001 Ducati 996.

Tim Flowers

I always assume Republicans drive big gas guzzling SUV's and other huge creations such as Cadillacs and Lincolns. As for myself, I drive a BMW 325. Yep, a "yuppie" car.

Marissa

Republican - 2006 VW Golf GTI, manual.

The BoBo

First..why is there a 7% difference under the hatchbacks and it goes to the Dems, yet when there is a 7% difference in SUV's its a toss up? There's a 14% separation under sedan/coupe..yet its a toss up! Me thinks there's an agenda.

Okay - me - Republican - Scion TC (Toyota) Manual 5 speed 6 cylinder sports car
My wife - Republican - Big ol' SUV Toyota 4Runner SP

politicus

I think that this is roughly correct. The stupid and the uneducated (you can find many of those among the Democrats, but largely among the Republicans) tend to drive the large, badly-designed, lousy American SUVs and pickups.

Administrator

Texas Democrat... would that be a domestic or import?

Texan Democrat

I'd say a liberal drives an suv!

Big D

Republican, Ford Pick-up

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