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Can we infer a person's voting preferences from their lifestyle choices? Are certain characteristics, such as the type of car they drive or leisure activities, actually associated with different political parties?
According to a study published in , the answer appears to be yes. International Public Opinion Research Journal By Catherine Ouellette, professor of political science at the University of Montreal. Her research shows that we are generally very good at inferring other people's political preferences based solely on lifestyle cues.
In the first part of the study, participants were asked to select lifestyle and socio-demographic attributes that they believed were applicable to supporters of three different political parties in Quebec. To assess the accuracy of these judgments, Mr. Ouellette compared these attributes to his 2022 Quebec general election voting choices based on data collected using the app he co-created, Datagotchi. We investigated the actual relationship between
Ouellet's analysis focused on three political parties: the right-wing Quebec Conservative Party, the left-wing Quebec Solidaire and the more centrist Quebec Liberal Party.
Indicators: Pickup trucks, lattes, museums.
Ouellet's results suggest that driving a pickup truck, practicing outdoor motorsports, and hunting are attributes that make people more likely to think that a person is a supporter of the Quebec Conservative Party. Drinking a latte instead of filter coffee has the opposite effect. Interestingly, the lifestyle profile of actual Quebec Conservative supporters based on Datagotchi data is similar to that of non-voters.
At the other end of the political spectrum, visiting museums and galleries is the best predictor of voting for Quebec Solidaire. Here there was a particularly strong convergence between the correlation between people's stereotypes and reality.
It seems difficult to stereotype the typical Quebec Liberal supporter. With the exception of motorsport, none of the lifestyle attributes surveyed were strongly associated with Liberal voters.
“These findings show that, depending on lifestyle characteristics, it is possible to draw conclusions that often turn out to be true,” Ouellette commented.
basic human tendencies
There's no obvious link between drinking lattes and voting for left-wing parties, so why is there actually a link between lifestyle and political leanings?
Ouellette believes it's due to psychosocial factors. “We know that people tend to associate with people similar to themselves, who share common characteristics such as language, culture, values, music preferences, and socio-demographic backgrounds,” she says. To tell. . “This tends to be self-reinforcing social influence. If you spend a lot of time with several people, you end up having similar worldviews.”
According to Ouellette, this convergence creates micro-level groups made up of people who are more or less like-minded, including their political attitudes and preferences.
Ouellette also noted that in today's social media-dominated world, “ideological and emotional polarization has deepened,” and lifestyle and politics appear to be increasingly intertwined.
She hopes to explore this connection in other cultures, such as the United States and Japan.
For more information:
Catherine Ouellet et al., Stereotypes and Stereotyping: Measuring the Accuracy of Lifestyle-Based Judgments about Political Affiliation, International Public Opinion Research Journal (2024). DOI: 10.1093/ijpor/edae011