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Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Does Whole Foods or Cracker Barrel Denote Democrat or Republican?



On the lighter, if not too scientific, side of politics David Wasserman at FiveThirtyEight has resurrected the Whole Foods - Cracker Barrel predictor of election outcomes. He shot down the Chick-Fil-A - Starbucks forecasting model noting that Chick-Fil-A has a store in New York's Greenwich and Starbucks has several locations in Salt Lake City.
Both Whole Foods and Cracker Barrel are adept at marketing a lifestyle, with an emphasis on “local” and “close to home.” They have similar reaches: Cracker Barrel counts restaurants in 42 states, while Whole Foods just hit its 43rd state.
In 2010, when Republicans regained control of the House, 82 percent of the 66 districts they flipped from Democratic control contained a Cracker Barrel; just 20 percent contained a Whole Foods.
The good news for Republicans in 2014 is that most of the top 12 competitive Senate races are playing out in Cracker Barrel country more than in Whole Foods country. In fact, just three of the 12 Senate races with less than a 95 percent certainty in the latest FiveThirtyEight Senate forecast are in states where more voters live in Whole Foods counties than Cracker Barrel counties.
I remain an agnostic on this theory. I have never set foot in a Whole Foods store and while Cracker Barrel is top shelf in the estimation of my down home in-laws I wince every time I remember the plate of undercooked chicken livers I was served years ago in Durham, North Carolina.

4 comments:

  1. I think Cracker Barrel is generally pretty good; I just can't tolerate everything being deep fried and, I confess, I'm a bit taken aback by the size of CB's patrons. That said, I've only eaten there twice and they had some great green beans.

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  2. Do you have a Culvers? They know how to do fast food. They offer hamburgers, rubins, pork tenderloin, grilled or breaded, cheese steak and much more. Great fast food! We eat there for about $15.

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  3. They're a Wisconsin company and offer even walleye in season.

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