Ever wonder if your political views have any sway on your musical preferences? Or maybe vice versa? Well, thanks to Public Policy Polling, there’s a poll for that!
There is in fact a partisan divide, to a certain extent. The difference begins with musical genre, with 27% of Democrats selecting classical as their top choice. The highest percentage of Republicans, on the other hand, went with country music: 34% of Republicans selected country as their musical genre of choice. There is common ground when it comes to least favorite musical genre. Members of both parties selected rap as their least favorite genre.
Between belting out tunes like Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” at New York’s Apollo Theater in 2011 or crooning “Sweet Home Chicago” at a White House event last year, it’s no doubt that President Obama has a musical side. Sorry, Barack: when the survey asked people which singer they would want to see as commander-in-chief, both Democrats and Republicans picked Justin Timberlake. No word yet about First Lady Jessica Biel.
There was also a divide when it came to favorite member of the Beatles. For both parties, John Lennon and Paul McCartney were the top picks, but in the opposite order. Democrats chose John Lennon over Paul McCartney by 39% to 36%. As PPP points out, “it seems Republicans still haven’t forgiven Lennon for his strong political activism”: 49% of Republicans picked Paul McCartney as their favorite Beatle, with just 15% going for John Lennon.
What were the golden days of music? Democrats were most fond of the 1960’s, while Republicans went for the 1950’s. Overall, 75% of the respondents felt the best decade of music was either the 1950’s, 1960’s, or 1970’s.
There’s only one pop star accounted for in the poll who came out with majority unfavorability regardless of party: Justin Bieber. Check out the Hardball Sideshow to find out who’s not a Belieber.
