Study: Democrats love Game of Thrones, Republicans don’t think about it

It’s election season in the United States, with Republican Donald Trump set to go head to head with Democrat Hillary Clinton for the presidency. We’re going to see a lot of important issues hashed out over the next several months, but market research firm E-Score cut right to the heart of things and asked the only question that really matters: what TV shows do Democrats and Republicans most enjoy?

The company looked at “more than 750 prime time broadcast, cable and streaming programs” and tracked how often a sample of voting-age Americans described them as “One of My Favorites.” It divided the respondents up by political affiliation and cataloged the results. Take a look.

Programs rated “One of My Favorites” by Democrats

1. Game of Thrones
2. The Haves and the Have Nots
3. Supernatural
4. The Big Bang Theory
5. Suits
6. The Walking Dead
7. How to Get Away with Murder
8. Doctor Who
9. Empire
10. Nashville

Programs rated “One of My Favorites” by Republicans

1. Supernatural
2. The Walking Dead
3. Scorpion
4. Arrow
5. The Flash
6. The Big Bang Theory
7. NCIS
8. Blue Bloods
9. Grimm
10. Last Man Standing

Now, we haven’t seen exactly how E-Score collected and analyzed the data, but if these results are accurate, they have some interesting implications. Shows like The Big Bang Theory and The Walking Dead show up on both lists. That’s not surprising given their immense popularity—there’s bound to be crossover when a show is that big.

But then again, Game of Thrones is also enormously popular, but it doesn’t even show up on the Republican list. You’d think a show as mired in politics as Thrones would appeal to politically oriented people of all stripes, but according to this study, that’s only true of Democrats, who enjoy it above all other TV.

Westerosi politics at work

Why the disparity? Here’s what E-Score concluded:

"Democrats – Prefer programs that are sexy, edgy, emotionally involving, ethnically diverse or have strong characters. These shows may be more attractive to supporters of Clinton.Republicans – Prefer programs that are family-friendly, funny, plot driven or have storylines that involve “good vs. evil.” These shows may be more appealing to supporters of Trump."

It’s also interesting that Supernatural, which doesn’t have anywhere near the ratings of Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, or The Big Bang Theory, is placed so high on both lists, even topping the Republican one. Remember: the study didn’t measure how often these shows were watched by the respondents, but how often they were described as a favorite, so apparently Supernatural inspires a lot of passion among its fans.

At the end of the day, this could mean something or it could mean nothing. Polls are a precarious business, although we’ll doubtless see a lot more of them as election season continues. What do you make of the study?

h/t PR Newswire