Wednesday, October 17, 2012

The Interests of Romney and Obama Followers

A fascinating graphic from iProspect about the election compares the Facebook followers of Gov. Romney and Pres. Obama.  This suggests, in tantalizing outline, a social portrait of the two groups.

Gov. Romney has 1.5 million followers on Facebook.  Pres. Obama has 20.9 million.

The top activities listed by Gov. Romney's followers:
  • Basketball
  • Guns
  • Gardening
  • Football
  • Church
  • Quilting
The top activities listed by Pres. Obama's followers:
  • Camping
  • Meditation
  • Stand-up Comedy
  • Power Walking 
  • Playing Computer Games
  • Jigsaw Puzzles
I wish they broke this down by the standard sociological categories of race, class, and gender, as well as age, but it does create a picture in the mind of the different "ideal type" voters for each candidate.

6 comments:

percy said...

I wonder if you think that the fact that virtually all blacks will vote for Obama smack of rascim?

Gruntled said...

Since African-Americans have voted overwhelmingly for the last several Democratic candidates for president, regardless of the race of the candidate, no.

Should I?

percy said...

I guess we do cling to our guns and religion...

percy said...

If whites claimed to vote for a candidate because he was white the way that many blacks admitted to voting for president Obama because of his color I think you might mention it on your blog now and then.

Gruntled said...

Many liberals of all colors voted for Obama, in part, because of his race, as a great step forward in overcoming our national history of anti-black racism.

While I have seen some anecdotes of black people saying that they voted for Obama, in part, because he is black, I have not been able to find any research.

I have, though, seen some research, showing people voting against Obama because he is black. This was particularly telling in the 2008 Democratic primary, since race, not party, was the crucial factor.

percy said...

I wonder why you have found no research on black racism?