Are followers of nation music actually extra prone to vote Republican, or is that an excessively simplistic and outdated cliché? If that is the form of query that retains you awake at evening, then you definitely’ll be excited to study that we could also be nearer than ever earlier than to a solution, due to a brand new on-line device which maps the correlation between liking sure genres of music and leaning in a sure political course.

Ticket gross sales firm VividSeats has compiled a chart of the top-selling music genres in every county of the US utilizing live performance sale knowledge from 2019, and cross-referenced it with voting conduct from the 2016 presidential election.

The digital map means that you can evaluate the three hottest genres in every county (nation music, rock music, and pop music) with which counties voted for Trump or Clinton in 2016.

Essentially the most instant seen takeaway on the map is that nation is by far the most well-liked style in red-leaning counties, whereas pop music is the highest-selling style in a few of the extra populous blue coastal areas, together with New York and Los Angeles. Nevertheless, whereas 90 p.c of counties the place nation music is the most well-liked voted for Trump, the areas the place pop music is hottest are extra divided, with 40 counties voting Clinton and 46 voting Trump.

Now, earlier than any scientific methodology advocates get all up within the feedback, it’s in fact essential to notice that correlation does not equal causation, and that popular culture tastes shouldn’t be taken as the only indicator (if in any respect) of the political beliefs of a person or group of individuals. And this most likely offers us little or no helpful perception into the end result of subsequent week’s election day.

Then once more, the New York Occasions is presently making an attempt to establish Trump and Biden supporters by the contents of their fridge, so possibly assumptions and generalizations are simply the place we’re at on this stage of the discourse.