Any election year brings out the crazies. Actually around here, we have them both, crazies and elections, every year. But election years in particular mean that all sorts of wing-nuts with ersatz predictions emerge from their long naps and pontificate about outcomes, abilities to be elected, value of service and voter turnout.
Sort of like a Punxsutawney Phil but with even less meaning.
Right off the bat in the opening days of the new year, the usually staid professionals at GFK MRI (I have no idea what those initials stand for, and could not care less) have teamed up with Jennifer Dube of the National Media Research, Planning and Placement to identify and quantify precisely what you drink, how you vote, and tie the two seemingly disjointed aspects of you together.
In that previous sentence, “seemingly” is an unnecessary qualifier. The two defining factors for this study, what you drink and how you vote, are absolutely disjointed. It should be noted that the National Media, etc., are a Republican consulting operation based in Alexandria, Va. Put your own spin on that factoid.
Anyway, the chart below identifies a wine or spirit, assigns weight to those persons in the sample who said that was a favorite adult beverage, and then graphs Republican or Democrat, and how often in previous elections the responder voted.
Courtesy of the National Media Research, Planning and Placement
And whether you are going to put any stock in the exercise, I imagine, would depend on where your beverage appears on the chart and what your personal political leanings are. If you see a match with yourself or friends, then you can “buy” the entire premise. If you consider yourself a fair-weather voter who usually casts your vote for a Democrat, and your choice of beverage is on the chart as a heavy Republican voter, then you are going to put no stock in the findings.
According to the chart, looking at it from the broadest view, it appears that Democrats like clear drinks, think vodka and gin, while Republicans like brown ones, like Bourbon and Scotch. Wine drinkers are more likely to be heavy voters, while Champagne and sparkling wine drinkers are definitely in the Democrat quadrants. Rum drinkers are middle-of-the-road types and many are not really into voting at all.
If you are a politician and have the bright idea to “work” the bars, you may want to avoid those solitary souls who hover around the Jägermeister dispenser. They don’t show a lot of interest in voting. I wonder why. (Rhetorical statement. Please don’t respond with theories.)
Also of interest is the fact that the chart is extended further to the left than the right. I guess far right Republicans are not drinkers of adult beverages. And again, no need to tell me what’s out there. I know.
I’m trying to come up with some thoughts as to why drinkers of some cheap wines, like Charles Shaw or Franzia, are of different political leanings from drinkers of other cheap wines, like Sutter Home or Gallo. Are Hornitos imbibers so different from 1800 Tequila drinkers? Do Skyy Vodka loyalists have such different voting habits from Ketel One?
One of the unanswered questions is do voters drink more or less after their candidate gets elected, or not? Do all of us drink more a few years into just about every elected official’s term? The answers to those questions have to be forthcoming, and they are going to be predictable. Trust me on this one.
As you can understand, there are still some very important considerations to be answered. This chart is just the beginning of our quest for answers. I’m heading to the bar, but I won’t be telling you what my beverage of choice will be. Oh no, I see what happens with that information.
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