Market Research by Claritas gives demographics of candidate support

[LuminousX]

Reference Link - PrimeZone Media

Claritas -- The Real Presidential Campaign: Bedrock America Versus Greenbelt Sports

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 22, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- To most American voters, the current presidential campaign is, as always, a contest between Republicans and Democrats. But according to a new consumer classification system from market research firm Claritas Inc., the real battle for the White House is being waged between segments of the population called Bedrock America and Greenbelt Sports.

This unusual political spin is provided by PRIZM(r) NE, the newest lifestyle-based segmentation system from Claritas, the pioneer of geodemography, or the practice of linking demographics to a place. Based on new census and marketing research data, PRIZM NE classifies the nation's 290 million people into 66 distinct lifestyles types or "clusters." Analyzing federal records of donors to the presidential candidates during the first six months of 2003, PRIZM NE found that George Bush's highest share of contributions came from communities classified Bedrock America, a cluster of young, downscale families in the nation's heartland. Meanwhile, current Democratic frontrunner Howard Dean attracted the largest concentration of his donations from Greenbelt Sports, a segment of upscale, suburban couples.

Not surprisingly, the analysis of federal campaign records found that wealthier Americans provide the largest total amount of contributions. Of the $74 million donated to candidates during that period, the residents of Upper Crust, the wealthiest suburban lifestyle type in places like Beverly Hills, Calif. and East Hampton, N.Y., contributed 13 percent, or $9.5 million, of the total amount.

The richest urban lifestyle type, called Young Digerati and representing singles and couples living in fashionable city neighborhoods, provided 11 percent, or $8.3 million, to political candidates. The donor file, maintained by the Federal Election Commission, only lists contributors who gave more than $200 -- omitting those who gave lesser amounts.

But the Claritas analysis, which compared the amount of money donated from each PRIZM NE segment to a candidate versus its total donations to all the politicians, reveals surprising pockets of support for different candidates. For instance, President Bush receives money from many lifestyle types, but a disproportionate share of his contributions come from small-town or suburban family clusters, with names like Fast-Track Families (upscale, exurban families) and Pools & Patios (empty-nesting suburban couples). By contrast, Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont, attracts a lot of money from young, urban clusters like Young Digerati and Bohemian Mix (midscale, younger singles), while a disproportionate share of contributions comes from town segments like Blue Highways (midscale families in isolated towns) and Heartlanders (rural, working-class couples).

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This is a long article and it offers a breakdown for all of the major candidates except Braun, who received too little money to analyze and Clark who arrived too late for them to process his data. In general this seems to be a marketing press release trying to get people to buy their data, but the small amount of analysis they did give offers some interesting insight on who the different candidates are appealing to.

Additionally, it offers an insight into who is supporting Bush and who may have the better chance of cutting into that support.

[gottaB]

1. I saw that this morning

It seemed kind of goofy to me. Was it just the stupid namess they chose? What were their basic criteria? A lot of it seemed to be based on neighborhood, and that would be reasonable from a traditional sociological viewpoint. However, there have been a lot of changes in the U.S. in the past thirty years, lots of mobility spatially and otherwise. So how does that factor into their assumptions?

Really, what goes into something like "Young Digerati"? It implies technological literacy, but is really just like access to high speed net and the means to afford it? And recent migrations of college-educated white professionals back to urban centers--well, there are a lot of other correlations and factors to consider, such as children or the inflation of real-estate prices in certain areas and so on. I doubt their demographic holds across all cities equally.

Hmm. Curious.

[Cocoa]

2. yes, it's all based on neighborhood

they use Census data, summed up at the block group level, which is about 1/5 of a zip code.

The goofy names are a marketing tool for their product. They also have goofy cartoons to go with each cluster.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

3. According to this article...

Chimp is a Flinstonian.

Bedrock= "Bedrock America, a cluster of young, downscale families in the nation's heartland." I don't buy it. There's nothing downscale about Chimp's support, unless you're talking intellect. However, I see promise in their demographic analysis.