• by Tanya Gazdik , June 14, 2012

It's no shocker that Republicans and Democrats don't see eye to eye on most brand choices.

While members of both political parties love Coke and Google, Democrats vote for Starbucks, while Republicans prefer Dunkin' Donuts. Republicans choose Allstate for insurance, while Democrats prefer Progressive.

The study from Buyology Inc. reveals another dimension of the deep rift between Democrats and Republicans. Not surprisingly, they disagree on the majority of the 200 brands included in the study of more than 4,000 Americans.

"At first glance, I think there are a lot of surprises, but when you look a little deeper, you see some interesting patterns," said Gary Singer, Founding Partner & CEO of Buyology Inc. "For example, the MLB is the most desired sports league for Republicans while Democrats desire the NFL most. When you look at this, you see a parallel in how the NFL 'levels the playing field' through salary caps, revenue sharing and more, and how this approach echos a Democrat’s philosophy. The MLB mimics a Republican philosophy without these checks and balances."

Progressive and Allstate are also interesting, Singer tells Marketing Daily. "Allstate’s campaign using 'Mayhem' is about fear, and you see this echoed in the campaign," he says. "Democrats desire Progressive more and their campaign is about an everyday guy in one and Flo in another."

The candidates could learn from the brands that win both parties, including Google and Apple. "They both have a clear vision and distinctive presence," Singer says. "Both Romney and Obama could learn from these. Coke is another winner – and their campaign is about happiness. Some learnings here for both candidates."Democrats and Republicans agree on these brands:

Democrats and Republicans disagree on these brands:   

"Brands can learn a lot by having a deeper understanding of the deep-seated connections that drive our decision-making," Singer says. Brands are experts at uncovering our emotional connections, he says.  "Our candidates are vying for our votes -- and brands are vying for our wallets," Singer says. "Neuro-insight and behavioral economics is the field Buyology is in and it’s changing the way brands understand insights and research. We wanted to be the first to use neuro-insight methodologies to study our connection to brands and our political party."

Buyology is a global neuro-insight firm that measures the deeper, non-conscious, 85% of human decision-making that drives customer preference for brands. The company uses advances in the medical, neurological and social sciences and has developed statistically validated, large-sample, Web-based tools to quantitatively measure customer responses to brands, new products, innovation, positioning, advertising, packaging, digital content and experiences.