I am posting this for two reasons: it generated quite some commentary and banter on my Facebook wall, and I have not seen it pop up elsewhere on blogs.
Reid Wilson of the GovBeat blog on the Washington Post had some help crunching the numbers of a National Media Research Planning and Placement survey regarding consumers in the US. While Wilson’s article focuses on beer, the graphic attached to the article actually shows wine and spirits as well, and that is what piqued my interest. The premise is that people in the survey indicated their political views and whether they voted. Since it was a consumer survey, they also reported their favorite kind of booze…and that is where it got interesting:
What’s your booze and politics chart (click for larger version)
This is my personal analysis: My favorite hard liquor is Gin (=Democrat, high turnout), my second favorite is Bourbon (=Republican, slightly less high turnout). While I drink Miller High Life at times (low turnout Democrat), my usual is Miller Lite (middle turnout Republican) – my go to, PBR, does not appear. Some of my favorite reds are Pinot noir (=just a little Republican, high turnout), but I also like Sauvignon blanc (insanely high Democratic turnout). Riesling does NOT even appear in the list. Looks like I’m quite the split personality.
Most of all, I am not surprised that Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay drinkers are all Republicans…that might say more about Republicans than anything else…you know where I stand on those two grapes…
Happy Sunday, and where do you stand?
the winegetter 
This is fantastic. I’m falling into the blue side with my wine drinking but I don’t see my Captain anywhere…guess that means I’m an Independent!
Ha! This is fun: while for some reason I am having difficulties opening up the larger version of the chart (hence my aging eyes equally have trouble actually seeing what is in it!), I also seem to have a split personality based on what you described in the post. Like you, I also kind of dig Miller Light/Miller High Life, among other slightly more dignified beers ;-) (I also like Sam Adams, Blue Moon, Corona, XX, and Bavarian beers, like Augustiner…). On the other hand, on the spirits side, I can’t stand gin, sorry. I am definitely partial to Scotch, Rum and Vodka. Regarding wine, oh well there’s so many varieties that I like… And after all, to me it always boils down to the quality of the producer rather than the variety itself. A variety grown in the right terroir by a conscientious producer who employs a competent enologist is unlikely to leave me unimpressed :-)
Gin? You drink gin?!?
Well, duh. It’s been my go to hard liquor since forever. Preferably as a gin sour.
i might like politics a little bit more if i were allowed to register as a “red zinfandel.”
Hahahaha, it might benefit all of us if you actually could…:)
i’m almost all high turnout democrat based upon this list, and it’s quite accurate ) i have a couple high turnout repubs too with my reds.
Split as me. :)
Great infographic – thanks for sharing! Like you I appear to have a split personality. What I find interesting is the beer / wine divide. So if you drink beer you’re less likely to care and vote than if you drink wine?!
I have a feeling (oh boy, can I see the backlash on this) that this correlates to income, too. Higher incomes tend to vote more often than lower incomes, according to many studies. Wine being more expensive than beer, and general being seen more “elitist” than beer, could correlate to that finding.
That makes sense!
Oops, I was wrong. This is what I was remembering. My favorite showed up where I would have expected it to. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2013/12/31/what-your-favorite-drink-says-about-your-politics-in-one-chart/
Thanks for sharing!! :)
I saw another version of this on Twitter, and it had the Cabernet over on the Democratic side. I wonder if someone saw their favorite drink in a category that they didn’t feel they belonged to, and did their own version? :)
Hahahaha, seriously??? I wasn’t aware of that. That is so weird…