Gallup Poll Analysis: Political Correlates of Car Choice

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- Social scientists -- and automobile marketers -- have long noted that the choice of a car to drive is based on more than just price and functionality. Car brands and styles are associated with specific identities, positioning, and mental images, and one's choice of a car can be a significant statement about his or her desired presentation of self. A recent Gallup Panel Poll found that 93% of Americans say they personally drive a car or other vehicle. These drivers were asked to name the brand of car they personally drive most often.

According to the resulting list, the two mainstays of domestic middle class cars -- Chevrolet and Ford -- are the dominant cars of choice for today's drivers, followed by Toyota, Honda, Dodge, Buick, GMC, and a variety of other brands driven by 3% or fewer U.S. adults.

Now, thinking about the car you, personally, drive most often, what brand of car is that? [OPEN-END]
BASED ON 936 ADULTS WHO DRIVE A CAR OR VEHICLE

This overall list of car preferences only tells half the story. There are significant differences in the choice of car by a variety of political and demographic variables. For ease of analysis, the car brands in the list above have been collapsed into three groups: cars with domestic, U.S. brand names, cars with Asian brand names, and cars with European brands. There is of course much less distinction now than in past years in terms of where the different car brands are manufactured. While Ford is a domestic brand, major components of their vehicles may be manufactured in other countries. A number of GM products are manufactured in Mexico and Canada, and many Toyotas and Hondas are manufactured in the United States.

Overall, 59% of Americans say they mainly drive a domestic brand car, 27% an Asian model, and 6% a European brand car. Still, regardless of place of manufacture, it is clear that differences exist in the types of people who choose each of these groupings of cars, and these are the findings of interest in this analysis.

We can begin with politics. It is clear that one's political position bears some relationship to one's choice of car.

Republicans are most likely to drive domestic, U.S. brand cars, followed by independents and then Democrats. Meanwhile, Democrats and independents are more likely to drive Asian brand name cars than are Republicans. Democrats are slightly more likely than either Republicans or independents to not drive a car at all. There is little statistical difference in choice of European car by partisanship.

There is also a strong relationship between choice of car and self-described political ideology:

Less than half -- 45% -- of self-described liberals drive domestic cars. Thirty-six percent drive Asian cars. The percentage of liberals who drive European cars is not significantly larger than the percentage for Republicans and independents. By contrast, almost 7 out of 10 conservatives drive domestic cars, and just 20% drive Asian cars.

Demographic and Socioeconomic Variables

Differences in car choice exist within various demographic and socioeconomic categories, most of which are probably not good news for the domestic automobile companies.

Overall, the data suggest that driving a domestic, U.S. brand is most prevalent among older Americans, those with lower incomes and lower levels of education, and in the Midwest.

The distinction by education is particularly interesting. Note that only 39% of those with postgraduate educations drive a domestic car, while more than half drive an Asian car.

Many European brands like Mercedes-Benz and BMW (and perhaps to a lesser extent Volvos and Saabs) have high sticker prices and have certainly been associated with more upscale consumers over the years. The current data reinforce the validity of that assumption. Fourteen percent of those making $75,000 or more drive a European car, compared to less than one percent of those making less than $35,000. Additionally, those in the high income group are much more likely to drive Asian makes; less than half drive a domestic car.

Younger Americans aged 18 to 34 are more likely to drive Asian and European cars than those who are older, and are less likely to drive domestic brands.

The bastion of domestic car brands is in the Midwest. More than 7 out of 10 Midwesterners drive domestic cars, compared by way of contrast to only 50% of those living in the West:

Survey Methods

Results for this panel study are based on telephone interviews with 1,003 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted May 22-24, 2006. Respondents were randomly drawn from Gallup's household panel, which was originally recruited through random selection methods. The panel was weighted prior to sampling so that it was demographically representative of the U.S. adult population. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum error due to sampling and other random effects is ±3 percentage points.

In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.