A study conducted by Annenberg’s Normal Lear Center and Zogby International surveyed the entertainment choices of over 3,000 politically Red, Blue, and Purple peeps across the country. The goal was to see if there’s a connection (and there is) between the life of a consumer and the life of a citizen. Peeps were asked to reveal how they opt to waste their time (radio? TV? Internet? video games?); what TV shows they watch; what social networks they belong to; what websites they visit; what brand of underwear they prefer—you get the idea.
The study may seem all voyeur-ish and fun, but as Johanna Blakley, the deputy director of the Norman Lear Center, points out, “it’s not like this hasn’t been done before . . . my sense is that campaigns have been doing this kind of polling forever.” This difference here, she goes on to point out, is that the results have been made public.