Do Our Political Views Influence Our Taste in Entertainment?

Aha! I knew it! Conservatives by and large don't have a sense of humor, and they're less likely to watch "cerebral" material like documentaries and educational programming...or at least that's what a poll conducted by Zogby and the Norman Lear Institute found. Here are a few bullet points from the poll:

• Who has a sense of humor? Not only do liberals give Comedy Central a big thumbs up (31% watch it daily, compared to 6% of all other respondents), you are more likely to find them watching comedies than moderates or conservatives.
• While liberals are more likely to be found watching drama, comedy, documentaries, and arts and educational programming, those are the genres that conservatives are more likely to avoid.
• Cerebral material like documentaries and arts and educational programming all appeal more to liberals, who are 57% female.

It also confirmed my suspicions about music:

• Out of 15 musical genres, conservatives were more likely than the rest of the respondents to listen to only two of them: country and gospel.
  
• Liberals, on the other hand, are more likely than other respondents to enjoy almost every music genre, including world, punk, Latin, hip-hop and rap, blues, reggae, electronica, R&B and soul, jazz, folk and traditional music. Rock was the most popular genre among liberals (67%).

And here's the kicker when it comes to games and sports:

• If you play Grand Theft Auto, it’s more likely that you’re a liberal. But if you like auto racing, we’d bet you’re conservative. Conservatives are four times more likely than liberals to follow NASCAR (5% vs. 20%).

But, to be fair, there are some things that everyone seems to enjoy, too:

• House: one of the very successful TV shows with almost an equal number of adherents across the political spectrum.
• News: over 70% of each political group said they watch the news everyday
• Football: in almost every demographic category, and across the ideological spectrum, football is the most popular sport. Sunday Night Football has a stronger conservative following, but it is very popular among moderates and liberals, as well.
• Movies: although moderates like them best, movies were the most popular type of TV programming for every political type.
• Classical music: although moderates are less enamored with it, classical music barely nudged ahead of rock as the most popular music genre overall.

Of course, this is just a poll. And we all know polls can't be taken without a grain of salt. But I do find this one particularly interesting, and in some ways disturbing. Why aren't conservatives watching as much educational programming or documentaries as liberals? Is it because they feel it could be liberally biased? Maybe. Who knows?

Tags: politics, Zogby, entertainment, Comedy Central, NASCAR, football, arts, music