Can the car you own indicate your presidential candidate preference? According to a recent marketing research study of 11,142 vehicle owners by Kelley Blue Book, it does.

Conducted September 19 through October 8, the survey concluded the following:

• Senator John McCain (R-AZ) rates high among domestic and luxury owners. Among the domestic brands, owners of GMC (61%), Chevrolet (60%), Buick and Dodge (each at 58%), as well as Ford (57%) vehicles are the highest in favor of McCain. In the luxury vehicle segment, McCain leads among Lexus, BMW, and Lincoln owners at 52% each

• Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) leads McCain among owners of import vehicles with the highest ratings for MINI (70%), Subaru (61%), and Saab (59%). 50% of Honda owners plan on voting for Obama, ten points higher than McCain.

Also, vehicle segments have a direct correlation to car-owners’ preferred presidential candidates.

• McCain receives the highest support from full-size truck (66%), full-size SUV (61%) and luxury SUV (61%) owners. Obama leads McCain among luxury station wagon (59%), station wagon and sport wagon (55%), hatchback (52%) and luxury crossover vehicle (52%) owners. Among owners of hybrid vehicles, Obama leads with 48% of the preferences, 9 points more than McCain.

Kelley Blue Book Marketing Research conducted the very same survey for the last two Presidential elections, accurately predicting the results: in 2000, the survey predicted George W. Bush would win over Al Gore. In 2004, the results revealed President Bush would win over Sen. John Kerry.

Source: WKYT.com

Christine Babick is a blogger at beneaththebrand.com. A marketing strategist and linguist, she specializes in marketing language, website text, “emo copy,” and cause and relationship marketing.

Article Tags: 2008 | Branding | Data | Election | marketing | politics | Research | Statistics | Surveys
Filed under: Marketing Trends, Political Marketing, Research