Politics and Entertainment

A new Zogby Poll done with USC's Lear Center finds that:

liberals were much more likely than conservatives to listen to commentary and entertainment with which they disagreed philosophically.  ...

More here and here.

Reds make up 37% of the nation, while liberals comprise 39% and moderates 24%, the Zogby/Lear Center research shows. The “reds” People with a “red” entertainment preference think a lot of programming is in bad taste and doesn’t reflect their values. They don’t like a lot of things on TV, but their two favorite channels are Fox and Fox News. They like sports, especially football and auto racing, and they watch news and business programming. They don’t like most contemporary music and they don’t watch VH1 or MTV. They don’t much like late-night TV. They like to go to sporting events, and when they do go to the movies – which is rarely – they seek out action-adventure films. They’re not big book readers, but when they do read, they prefer non-fiction. When they read fiction, they often select mysteries and thrillers. They are more likely to listen to country and gospel than other people, but their favorite music is classical. They don’t play a lot of video games, but when they do, Madden NFL and Mario are their favorites. They think that fictional TV shows and movies are politically biased, and they believe they can predict a person’s politics if they know the person’s entertainment preferences. The “blues” People with a “blue” entertainment preference like many of different types of programming, even if it doesn’t reflect their taste or values. They shy away from a lot of primetime programming, especially game shows and reality TV, but they like comedies, drama, documentaries, news, and arts and educational programming. They love 60 Minutes, PBS, HBO, Comedy Central and The Daily Show. They go to the movies, where they often see comedies, and they like to go to live theater and museums and galleries. They read books more often than most people – they prefer fiction to non-fiction, but their favorite genre is politics and current events. They enjoy entertainment with political themes, and they feel like they learn about politics from entertainment. Sports are less interesting to them, but football is their favorite, and they’re more likely to follow soccer than other people. They like lots of different kinds of music (except country) and they watch MTV and VH1. They play video games a lot more than other people – Mario and The Sims are favorites. The “purples” People with “purple” entertainment preferences like all the broadcast networks and a lot of primetime programming, including police procedurals, game shows and reality programming. They watch a lot of Fox News and they like daytime and children’s programming more than other people. Moderates like to read non-fiction, including self-help books and biographies, but they like mysteries and thrillers best. Rock music is their favorite – they don’t like classical or folk music as much as other people. Their favorite video games are Mario, Donkey Kong and Madden NFL. They don’t seek out entertainment with political themes and they are far less likely to read books about politics or current events than other people. They are less likely than other people to think that they can predict a person’s politics based on their entertainment preferences. ... On tv shows: More than twice as many liberals say they’re very often attracted to programming with political themes, compared to the rest of respondents, and this plays out in their TV show preferences, with 60 Minutes and Brothers and Sisters topping the list of shows most closely associated with liberal viewers. Moderates are more likely than liberals or conservatives to favor daytime programming and children’s programming. Out of 20 top-rated TV programs, the one that conservatives are more likely than others to tune out is 60 Minutes (almost 68% say they never watch it, compared to 27% of all other respondents). Late-night programming fares poorly with conservatives, with more than 32% saying they never watch nighttime talk shows. Offered a range of nighttime choices, 22% of conservatives picked Jay Leno, while over 54% of liberals selected Jon Stewart. On Books: Conservatives and liberals are more likely than moderates to read books. Liberals are almost twice as likely as conservatives to read literary fiction (20% to 11%) and they’re also more likely to read science fiction/fantasy than moderates (13% to 8%). Moderates and conservatives favor mysteries and thrillers while liberals (22%) and conservatives (20%) prefer books about politics and current events. Liberals like non-fiction and fiction equally. Moderates and conservatives prefer non-fiction. Moderates are more likely to read self-help books (7%)—liberals are the least likely to read them (3%). On Leisure Activities: You’re more likely to find conservatives at sporting events than at movie theaters, live theater or museums and galleries. Twenty-one percent of conservatives say they never go the movies, compared to less than 9% of liberals. When conservatives do go to the cinema, the biggest draw is action-adventure movies (35%) while liberals rank comedies (26%) and drama (25%) highest. Liberals are much more likely to visit museums and galleries and go to the movies and live theater. On Mixing Entertainment & Politics: Conservatives overwhelmingly (76%) believe that TV shows and movies “very often” contain political messages, but they are the least likely to learn anything about political issues from them. Just 4% say they learn lessons from movies. While 68% of liberals seek out entertainment that contains political themes and commentary, just 33% of moderates are the least likely to do so. Not only are moderates much less likely than other groups to seek out entertainment with political themes. Compared to conservatives and liberals, they are three times less likely to read a book on politics or current events. Nearly two in three conservatives think it is possible to predict a person’s politics when they know the person’s entertainment preferences, while 55% of liberals and 50% of moderates agree.    Over 80% of liberals admit that they are entertained by material that’s in bad taste. Almost 40% of conservatives say they are never entertained by it.

Comments

[vermont teddy bears]

What a great challenge this month! I think we all had as much fun with the creative process as we did making the final pieces. I can tell you from experience that covering an egg with polymer clay is no easy task which makes the final pieces even that much more amazing. Here are some hilarious stories & quotes from members about the process: