the divides that emerged in the 2016 presidential campaign reach beyond the red and blue of the electoral college map. they extend to the shopping, entertainment and lifestyle choices of each party<u+2019>s members. people in the counties where president-elect donald trump performed best are likely to watch country music television and the hallmark channel. those in the counties where hillary clinton did best tend to tune into hbo and showtime. people in mr. trump<u+2019>s top counties prefer samsung smartphones, while those in clinton counties like apple<u+2019>s iphone. the trump counties turn to fox news for information, while mrs. clinton<u+2019>s look to cnn and the new york times . pictures of the widely disparate consumer worlds of trump and clinton voters come from data provided by simmons research , a consumer-research firm, for the 25 counties where mr. trump drew the highest percentage of the vote and the 25 where mrs. clinton drew her largest shares of the vote. the data covered only counties with populations of 20,000 or more. to be sure, the data show correlations between political leanings and consumer habits, not causal behaviors. there are trump voters who prefer cnn as a news source and clinton voters frequently tune in to the hallmark channel. much of the consumer divide is tied to the kinds of places trump and clinton voters tend to live. some of the differences arise from geography<u+2014>some retail chains are more prevalent in republican-leaning than democratic states, for example.<u+00a0>others reflect differences in income, population density and local culture between red and blue regions. <u+201c>the differences are astounding,<u+201d> said tamara barber, senior manager for custom analytics at simmons. <u+201c>they are crystal clear. the levels of diversity. the size of the counties. where they shop. there is not a lot of crossover.<u+201d> when they go for fast food, people in trump<u+2019>s top 25 counties favor sonic drive-in or hardee<u+2019>s, while those in clinton<u+2019>s top 25 prefer chipotle and panera bread. the differences are reflected in leisure activities, as well. mr. trump<u+2019>s top counties are partial to archery and woodworking, while mrs. clinton<u+2019>s counties lean toward yoga and martial arts. the racial diversity and other demographic characteristics of trump and clinton counties vary widely. among mr. trump<u+2019>s top 25 counties, only one has a white, non-hispanic population below 70%. among mrs. clinton<u+2019>s top 25, only one had a white, non-hispanic population above 70%. in none of mr. trump<u+2019>s 25 counties did 30% of the adult population have a bachelor<u+2019>s degree, while in 18 of mrs. clinton<u+2019>s top 25 counties, more than 30% of the adult population has a bachelor<u+2019>s. the clinton counties also tend to feature higher incomes and bigger populations. manhattan, san francisco and washington, d.c. are all on the list of places that gave mrs. clinton the largest share of their votes, while mr. trump<u+2019>s contain a collection of smaller, mostly southern counties, such as winston county, ala., and gray county texas. as niche marketing and segmentation have come to dominate consumer culture, america<u+2019>s political divides are tied to ground-level differences that may make it harder to create political unity.<u+00a0>coming up with a message to reach both the trump and clinton counties is a difficult challenge, ms. barber said. <u+201c>i<u+2019>d say you need to have very different strategies for these two groups, maybe different products,<u+201d> she said. john besmer, a principal at planet propaganda, an advertising firm in the swing-state of wisconsin, said he sees some chances to bridge the divide. <u+201c>i don<u+2019>t think people wake up thinking, <u+2018>i want to be an awesome democrat today.<u+2019> people are all seeking happiness,<u+201d> he said. he said, however, that the people living in the top trump and clinton counties could have very different ideas of what makes happiness. a few activities seem to draw equal interest both from trump and clinton counties, the simmons data suggest. among them: playing football and bowling. and more than 60% in both groups say they enjoy listening to music. just don<u+2019>t ask what<u+2019>s playing in their headphones. trump<u+2019>s counties favor country and western. clinton<u+2019>s like urban adult contemporary. write to dante chinni at dante.chinni@wsj.com
consumer choices reflected the nation<u+2019>s political divide - wsj
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