Latteliberaler och Dunkin' Donuts-demokrater

NEW YORK Här är en intressant analys i brittiska Times av vilka demografiska grupper bland demokraterna som röstar på Barack Obama respektive Hillary Clinton. Resonemanget är att man kan dela upp deras väljare grovt efter de olika kaffedrickande kulturer som finns i USA (tänk att man numera alls kan tala om kaffe som en relevant faktor i detta land!).

Jag tar mig friheten att citera ett rejält långt utdrag:

Among voters whose voting choice is not based on identity politics, Mr Obama's supporters are the latte liberals. These are the people for whom Starbucks, with its $5 cups of coffee and fancy bakeries, is not just a consumer choice but a lifestyle. They not only have the money. They share the values.

They live by all those little quotes on the side of Starbucks cups about community service and global warming. They embrace the Obama candidacy because to them he transcends traditional class and economic divides. He is a transformative political figure - potentially the first black man to be president - and is seen as the one to revive America's faith in itself and restore America's status in the world. For these voters the defining emotion is hope.

Mrs Clinton is the candidate of what might be called Dunkin' Donut Democrats. They do not have money to waste on multiple-hyphenated coffee drinks - double-top, no-foam, non-fat lattes and the like. Not for them the bran muffins or the biscotti. They are the 75-cent coffee and doughnut crowd. For them caffeine choice doesn't correlate with their values but simply represents a means of keeping them going through their challenging day.

Though they don't doubt that global warming is important, they think it can wait. They want to make sure first they can pay the heating bills. They're not in favour of the Iraq war but neither are they so focused on restoring America's image in the world. They're not necessarily racist, it's just that they're not especially animated by the idealism represented by the first black president. For them anxiety, not aspiration is the defining factor.

Tipstack: Dick Erixon.

Jag tycker att analysen är intressant, och rätt förförisk. Men Barack Obama har vunnit flera av sina mest övertygande segrar i den amerikanska Mellanvästern (t ex Iowa och Nebraska). Vilket knappast är Starbucks-kulturens starkaste fästen.

Nu är förstås frågan – vilken drickande grupp föredrar republikanen John McCain? Kanske de som helst dricker öl.

/Gunilla

P S Kakor till kaffet? Om inte flottyrringar, så kanske Clinton cookies – dessa glaserade kakor och kakformar fanns på Clinton Museum Store i Little Rock:























En närbild på kakorna fanns här.