Political mileage: Are liberal voters more conservative at the pump?
As voters are driving out to participate in primaries and caucuses, do you ever wonder what they’re driving?
The folks at BestRide, a car-shopping website, and CarTalk, a nationally syndicated radio program, have done the legwork for you — and some of the results from the more than 10,000 respondents they polled may surprise you.
According to BestRide and CarTalk’s recent analysis, Toyota Prius drivers are 40 percent more likely to support Hillary Clinton than the general population.
But, wait, this next Prius-driver fact is a bit polarizing — they are 126 percent more likely to support Ted Cruz than the general population.
As for Dodge, which is arguably best known for its muscle cars and big trucks, its owners are 50 percent more likely to support Donald Trump compared to the general population.
And drivers of the fuel-conscious Honda Fit as well as Subaru Forester drivers, they’re “feeling the Bern,” as they’re more likely to support Bernie Sanders compared to the general population.
Supporters of Clinton and Sanders are both tied at an average fuel economy of 28.5 miles per gallon for their registered vehicles. The average fuel economy for Rubio and Cruz followers both came in at 24.7 mpg while Trump supporters averaged 23.6 mpg from their registered vehicles.
Looking at the owners of electric vehicles, 86 percent of the responses were for a Democrat while 14 percent supported a Republican.
To check out the full results of the BestRide study, click here.
Iowans lean toward domestic makes, New Hampshirites reflect national averages
In other cars-and-campaign musings, Edmunds.com recently took a look at the buying tendencies in the first two states to host their individual primaries and caucuses: Iowa and New Hampshire.
Looking at 2015 new-car registration data, Edmunds found that 63 percent of Iowan purchases last year were from domestic brands — compared to the national average of 42 percent.
In New Hampshire, the purchase of American-made vehicles was much closer last year, coming in at 40 percent. New Hampshirites do love their Japanese-made vehicles, though — 46 percent of the new vehicles sold in New Hampshire in 2015 were Japanese, compared to the national average of 41 percent.