We have all heard about how modern campaigns in the US now depend heavily on data mining, where information about each individual voter is collected to create a profile that enables campaigns to get a pretty good idea of how you will vote, maybe even before you yourself have consciously decided.
I had assumed that the data being used was about where you lived, worked, occupation, purchases and the like. But apparently, even your first name is used. This commercial outfit called Clarity Campaigns that works with Democratic party campaigns uses your first name to gauge how Democratic your leanings are.
I thought that my first name would be so unusual as to be excluded from the database but I was wrong. It turns out that there are 301 registered voters with my name, enough to construct the following profile.
Of course, since one’s first name is something that others decided for you before you were born, this cannot imply causality, except for a second-or-higher-order effect in that your parents’ choice may reflect their attitudes that may rub off on you.
But its mainly fun and you can see what your own name says about you.
Ha. Apparently the database distinguishes between short and long forms of your name. My full first name runs slightly republican, while the short version runs slightly democratic.
Depending on which version of my name I submit I range from;
4th most common to 1,471st most common
have a 45.6 % to 54.7% chance of having a gun in my house (I used to but let my permit elapse in disgust after the Trayvon Martin murder)
have a 52.4% to 61% chance of attending church regularly -- nope, my relatives don’t die often enough for that
and 43.7% to 55.9% chance of having a degree which I do though its ancient (class of ’76)
I think its numerical masterbation.
The numbers differ somewhat from mano, but lean in the same direction on all indicators.
And no, that’s not my name. I just picked one to try out.
76.5% blue. I guess Obama has the Barack vote sewn up.
David leans pretty Republican, but Dave is more Democratic. Interesting.
The first name is a clue to ethnicity and sex.
If you enter a name stereotypically associated with blacks, hispanics, or Jews, you’ll almost certainly get a strong Democratic score, because those groups tend to vote Democratic. The Republican names are generally common, boring, ordinary-looking British Isles type names.
In my limited experimentation, the names that tended Republican were Republican by only a small margin, probably because even ethnic minorities often adopt those names, thereby diluting their political coloration. The ethnic Democratic names, by contrast, often score quite strongly Democratic.
Female name generally score more Democratic, reflecting the commonly observed gender gap in American politics. I never came up with a female name that was Republican by more than a tiny sliver.
Got distracted trying to guess which names are most common. I’ve got 1, 3, 4 and 5 so far, can anyone figure out the second most common name?
Bad news for the religious right. Jesus is 73.8% Democrate
Michael #1
John #2
David #5
Don’t tell the GOP, but here are some interesting results:
Jesus: 73.8% Democratic
God: 86% Democratic
Christ: 54.2% Democratic
Yahweh: 58.1% Democratic (only 13 people with this name, which is 13 more than I expected)
Jehovah: 79.8% Democratic
Messiah: 82.9% Democratic
Leviticus is 80.2% Democratic
I’ve found these but I can’t find #3 and #4
William #6
Mary #7
Richard #8
Thomas #9
Joseph#10
Right, I always get the spelling wrong. I know several Jons (short for Jonathan because bible names yay *spits*), but no Johns. Seems weird to me that the stranger looking spelling is more common. James and Robert are 3 and 4.
The Greek pantheon is pretty thoroughly Democratic as well.
!!!
@13 Thank you Dave now I can get back to work.
There are 60 registered voters named Vader
There are 31 registered voters named Lucifer
There are 12 registered voters named Pluto
Ok…now I really need to get back to work.
@6
The strongest Republican name I can find is Jo Beth at 61% republican.
The next highest I can find are pretty weak:
Mary Sue, Sally Jo, and Sally Jane are all at 53%
that should have said “strongest female-associated Republican name”
OOoo: Darla is 54.5% Republican,
My first name leans Rethuglican, possibly because I’m named after a Christian saint.
Boy, Orly leans heavily blue!
49.4% of voters with my name have a gun in their house
48.8% of voters with my name attend religious services weekly
51.8% of voters with my name have a college degree
61.4% of voters with my name are Democrats
And I am in the majority of each of those partitions. But talk about flipping coins.
It seemed to me that the % with guns must be way too high (43% of Manos?), so I looked it up.
It seems that some 39% of U.S. households have a gun. That amazes me. (Still seems like the percentages listed are a bit too high though; I’ve yet to find a below average name.)
@13
John and Jon are not two different spellings of the same name, but are two different names with different etymology. It should not be that surprising that John is more common than Jonathan in the US, given the major roles of John the Baptist and John the Apostle,--compared to the 2nd fiddle part played by jonathan in 1 Samuel
The new testament was a little too wishy washy for the fundies I grew up with. Not enough smiting. Admittedly, we did get a lot of Revelations, but I didn’t know it who wrote it til much later.
That does make sense. Another good association that would recommend the name Jonathan to the fire and brimstone types is Jonathan Edwards. While much of his more intellectual stuff is not in favor with today’s fundies, I understand that “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” remains quite popular .
The most Democratic name I could find: Queen
The most Republican: Bret
My name is not in the database. How sad!
I checked my name and my two sisters. It got party affiliation and likelihood of attending religious services exactly backwards.
As a non-American I had to look up which colour was which. I love that the Republicans are the Reds!
“I love that the Republicans are the Reds!”
So do I. Would you think this movie is about Republicans?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082979/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_9
Apparently the Republicans have murdered some Nazi’s in the past:
Flag high, ranks closed,
The S.A. marches with silent solid steps.
Comrades shot by the red front and reaction
march in spirit with us in our ranks.
Guess what? 73,8 % of all the American Jesuses vote blue! So do 75,5 % of alle Moseses!
If you are named God chance to vote blue is even higher: 86 %!
Take that, Teabaggers.
@6 Mck9 -- I’d agree and kind of expected that, and it was no surprise for me the results I saw, except the gun one, which I’ll get into at the end.
Well, had to use the middle name. My name wasn’t in the database.
I got 70% have a college degree
16% attend religious services
and 44% have a gun in their home?
68% Democrats
The ‘gun in your home’ seems … larger than I’d imagine? I’m sitting here putting in female names (less likely to have gun perhaps and I’m using names less likely to be Standard White Names) and I can’t seem to find one where the gun goes below 40%. Do that many people actually own guns?
@smrnda,
Polls show that 47% of American homes have guns.
And the question is about guns in the home not who owns guns. So even if women are less likely to claim actual ownership, all it requires is for one person in their home to possess one to get counted.
Every single one of the eight (or nine, if you prefer) planets has at least a few eponymous registered voters, and all of them skew Blue.
@35 Mano
I got that (figuring that most women might not own the gun but it’s in the home) but that still seemed outrageously high to me.
This might just be that I’m from Chicago, and Illinois is probably the least gun-friendly State in the US.
Just an intuition, but the 47% of all homes have guns just doesn’t sit right with firearms death rate…. should be higher than the 30,000 per year. Just saying that it should be approx 45,000-60,000 per year….