Politics

Survey: GOP voters drink wine, Democrats order champagne and ‘Smoking Loon’

Neil Munro White House Correspondent
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The most fervent Democratic partisans drink expensive champagne and brandy, while the GOP’s base voters drink modestly priced wine, says a new media survey by National Media, a firm that tracks demographic and consumer data.

The data contradicts the commonplace media and Hollywood portrayals of GOP voters as plutocratic, champagne-sipping vulture-capitalists.

It illustrates the growing political divide between GOP-leaning middle-class voters, including most college grads, and the Democratic Party’s high-low alliance of wealthy post-grad progressives and unskilled, low-income people.

GOP voters drink decent wines and good bourbon, while limousine liberals splash their money on costly, famous-brand champagnes and brandies. Democrats who are least likely to turn out on election day also spend heavily on high-priced booze, including Grey Goose and Absolut vodkas, and Patron tequila.

The drinks most associated with Republican-leaning partisans are Wild Turkey and Jim Bean bourbons, and Robert Mondavi wines. Low-turnout Republicans buy a lot of Jack Daniels, the survey reports. However, the GOP’s wine drinkers are more likely to vote on election day. They’re likely to drink bourgeois Kendall Jackson and Robert Mondavi wines.

The brands most favored by leftward Democrats are Andre, Cooks and Moet & Chandon champagnes, Courvoisier cognac, and Prosecco, a champagne-like drink from Italy. But the drink that is most associated with Democrats who are both very left-wing and most likely to vote is a wine brand dubbed “Smoking Loon.”

“Smoking Loon’s full-bodied wines embody the independent, bohemian spirit of our very own California, delivering wines of distinctive quality and value that are wholly without pretense,” said the company’s website. ‘For those with an appetite for adventure, those in touch with their inner loon… smoking loon is for you,” says the website’s pitch.

Mondavi offers a considerably more down-to-earth “about us” narrative than does Smoking Loon.

“1966; The Winery’s first harvest is celebrated with the first Blessing of the Grapes… 2005; The Republic of France bestows the Legion d’Honneur, France’s highest presidential honor, upon Robert Mondavi,” said the site’s blurb.

A 2012 study revealed the beer-drinking habits of voters, and showed that Heineken was the favorite beer of Democrats, while Republicans reached for Coors Light and Sam Adams.

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Neil Munro