Republican vs Democrat and TV show preferences

Posted By on November 11, 2010

Although including politically oriented subject matter on my blog is divisive, it is still something that “we” talk about in our daily grind so I’ll still continue to include a few pointed posts. I’d like to think that with November 2nd is behind us we’ll see a year or so of productive governing in Washington DC … but who am I kidding … we are a divided country when it comes to how much government we want overseeing our lives.

On a lighter political note, Experian Simmons research looked at the television viewing habits of Republicans and Democrats. Some of the numbers were of no surprise … Glenn Beck on FoxNews was popular with Republicans and Countdown with Keith Obermann on MSNBC was popular with Democrats. On the other hand, Modern Family, featuring a gay couple with their adopted daughter, came is as a number 3 show for Republicans, yet was relatively popular with Democrats too. Number 3 for the Democrats was the premium channel Showtime’s Dexter, a program that received far less attention in Republican homes. What was interesting is that most ‘reality’ shows were popular across the political spectrum.

Where do your viewing habits tell you about your political leanings?

RandD_TVshows101110

For the record, my wife were disappointed not to see a few of our favorite programs on the list, but ranked the ones that we have watched this order:

  1. NCIS
  2. Glenn Beck
  3. The Big Bang Theory
  4. V
  5. Modern Family
  6. Parks and Recreation
  7. Dexter (although DVD only)
    *** many of the programs we aren’t even familiar with

Comments

  • http://amileofrunway.blogspot.com Steve

    We’re huge fans of Modern Family – probably the best show on TV right now. Obviously I love the Daily Show!

    Gina and I have been watching Outsourced and it’s gotten better over the past few weeks as well – pretty funny show. We also caught hooked on The Event this year.

    Some others I’ve been enjoying – Stormchasers on Discovery, Detroit 1-8-7, Undercover Boss.

  • http://richc.myarchive.us RichC

    Steve … my son loves the Modern Family program and turn me on to ‘recording’ it. We don’t watch all of the episodes, but I do enjoy it too. Brenda is less attracted to “stupid comedy” … but it puts me in a good mood.I don’t know why I don’t watch Stewart or Colbert since I enjoy about every clip I’ve seen? Maybe I don’t feel as if I’m their targeted audience?I’ve never taken to any of the reality show … oh, I take that back, I enjoyed the Discovery Channel’s “The Colony.”

  • http://amileofrunway.blogspot.com Steve

    Yeah I’m not a huge reality buff, but I do like some.

    I completely forgot about The Colony since the season already ended – we love that show, too.

  • http://www.semanticargument.com Rob

    I don’t understand how they organized the info in this list. Why is Desperate Housewives a popular Republican show if it got the same score from both Democrats and Republicans, for example? I’ve replotted the data so it’s a little easier to tell what’s going on:

    http://www.semanticargument.com/2010/11/22/visualizing-tv-preferences-by-party-affiliation/

  • http://richc.myarchive.us RichC

    Thanks for the comment Rob … I enjoyed your post.

    I’m sure the numbers had more to do with the Top 15 listed … it
    probably has more to do with the numbers of people all watching the same
    shows. The equal number on one show has little to do with how that
    program ranks on the top Dem or top Rep columns.

Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.