Retail Politics: Shopping Insights For Obama & McCain Voters
Whether you voted for Barack Obama or John McCain, a recent Nielsen Homescan analysis shows notable differences in the shopping habits and holiday spending expectations of the American voter. The panel’s voting intent (55% Obama / 45% McCain) was similar to the actual nationwide election results (53% / 47%) and mirrored the state-by-state victories in all but three of the 48 contiguous states.
Travel And Spend
Nielsen Homescan panelists who favored Obama, tended to make more frequent trips across all outlets combined and in traditional retail channels, outmatched only by McCain voters when it came to trips to Walmart. While McCain voters may have made fewer trips, they typically outspend their Democratic rivals in terms of per-trip dollars.
Holiday Retail Outlook
While “hope” was a big theme of the Obama campaign, the results show that McCain voters are slightly more optimistic about holiday spending. Sixty-three pecent of McCain voters plan to spend same or more for the 2008 season, while 38% of Obama voters indicated that they would spend less. McCain voters also expressed more optimism about spending on entertainment inside and outside the home.
View sample data from Buying & Shopping Preferences For 2008 Voters.
November 18th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
This is not at all surprising. Look at the demographics involved. McCain catered to the affluent while Obama catered to the middle class and poor. The affluent voters can afford to spend more money while the middle class and poor have to watch every penny they spend.
November 18th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Let’s do the maths. 63% of the 47% McCain voters, will spend the same or more during the holiday season. 38% of the Obama voters (53%) will spend less.
This means about 60% of the Americans will spend the same or more and 40% will spend less.
That is very good news! Happy Holiday’s.
November 21st, 2008 at 11:38 pm
[...] a bit of news from Nielsen about the difference in outlook for holiday shopping between supporters of Obamarama and supporters of Yawn Mc… made me add one more post before closing up shop for the [...]
December 13th, 2008 at 9:50 am
[...] A recent Nielsen Homescan analysis on the shopping habits of Obama and McCain supporters was reported in a article titled, Retail Politics: Shopping Insights For Obama & McCain Voters [...]