No seriously it’s true that’s just what you are according to some new research that found the left favoured iPhones while the right favours the Blackberry (that hissing you heard just then was me dropping my 8500 into my tea).
The research was done in the US around the hotly contested race for the governorship of California. What it found was that iPhone users prefer probable Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown and Blackberry users prefer the Republican Meg Whitman (the former CEO of Ebay).
iPhone users support Democratic candidate Jerry Brown over Republican candidate Meg Whitman 57% to 31% while Blackberry users support Whitman over Brown 47% to 38%.
I am betting that if the research was done in the UK we would see a similar left/right technology split. The research throws a fascinating light on the politics of technology. Apple with its cool design and sleek look has always had a particular liberal creative appeal as part of its brand giving it an almost rebel brand status that eschewed the dull corporatism of rivals.
It’s interesting to see that as Apple products have become almost
ubiquitous, and much more widely owned than when it was simply a
computer firm, its original market appeal does not seem to have
been greatly diluted.
I’d always suspected that as ownership became more widespread via the iPod and iPhone so would the character that makes up its customers and while there has been some change that we can lay at the doorstop of ubiquity apparently not as much as I’d once thought.
Apple owners it appears (whether they closely identify with the brand or claim not to: like me) are still broadly residents of the liberal left.
The research from new technology coalitionCALinnovates.org a identified a couple of other useful nuggets worth checking out as the general election approaches in the UK.
It found that a “supermajority of voters” use Facebook and that the social networking site is not just for the kids. We already knew that, but with 62% of the under 50s on it that gives you a lot of people to work with.
Facebook has more than doubled in size since the 2008 presidential race and with its broad appeal its role in a California governorship race or a general election might not be huge but it is not to be ignored. It can do something for your political campaign wherever you might be running.
The research also found that nearly half of voters follow candidate’s Facebook and Twitter profiles with 40% of social media users supporting or following candidates via Facebook or Twitter.
We read last week about Facebook’s rise as a place to read news (it is now the fourth biggest and apparently ahead of Google News) the research had more evidence of this trend with 26% of voters saying they read political news and information via social media sites.
Social media is quickly becoming the political norm and as pollster Ben Tulchin puts it “candidates need to adjust with the times or be left behind”.
