The politics of grocery shopping

At Kunstler's blog, I promised to post something about the politics of grocery shopping.  It's been a week, so it's time to follow through.

LiveScience: Democrat or Republican ... Who Buys Generic?
Chad Brooks, BusinessNewsDaily Contributor
Date: 14 February 2013 Time: 09:37 AM ET

Conservatives and liberals are as different when choosing groceries as they are when choosing political sides, new research finds.

The study, led by researcher Vishal Singh of New York University, discovered a relationship between political affiliation and buying behavior, suggesting that ideological differences are reflected in daily behavior, even at the unconscious level.

Researchers analyzed weekly sales data from more than 1,800 supermarkets across the United States between 2001 and 2006. Using statistics on voting history and religiosity - factors that are independently correlated with conservative values - they were able to determine the level of conservatism in each county.

Conservatives preferred established brands, while liberals were more likely to buy both generics and new brands.  I guess I know the shopping habits of the delegates to the two major party conventions this past weekend.

Speaking of the food choices of liberals and conservatives, both agree that there is a significant difference between processed and organic food.  That means that they might find common ground in this study by ten TV stations, reported by WXYZ and WCPO.  WXYZ comes first with Putting organic foods to the test.


While WXYZ did OK with their presentation of this study, WCPO missed the point of organic food in What is organic food?

9 On Your Side investigates the organic food at your local market.

This shows how different people can interpret and present the same results very differently.

On the other hand, both decried the lack of testing for organic produce.  I was surprised that no testing has been done, even though the standards have been in place for 20 years.