Poll: Game of Thrones among shows both Democrats and Republican like

The past few years — maybe even the past decade and change — or American political life has been marked by ever-widening divisions between people of different political persuasions: left vs right, liberal vs conservative, Democrat vs Republican, etc. And with this being a presidential election year, I don’t see that stopping anytime soon. Really, we’re only a couple months into the year and I’m already exhausted.

But even though people may be apart on the issues, there’s one thing that brings them together: TV, sweet TV. E-Poll Market Research recently conducted a survey to see what people on different sides of the aisle were watching, and they have more tastes in common than you might think.

For example, here are the favorite cable/streaming series among Democrats, listed in order how many of those surveys named the shows as “one of my favorites”:

• Power
• Game of Thrones
• The Walking Dead
• Shameless
• Real Time with Bill Maher
• The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
• Stranger Things
• Vikings
• Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
• Orange Is The New Black
• The Umbrella Academy
• South Park
• The Handmaid’s Tale
• Grace and Frankie
• The Mandalorian
• Ghost Adventures
• WWE SmackDown Live
• Queer Eye
• The Rachel Maddow Show
• Mysteries at the Museum

I’ll be honest: I have never watched a single episode of Power on Starz, but I watch a lot of the rest of these shows.

And here are the top Republican pics:

• Game of Thrones
• Vikings
• Shameless
• Stranger Things
• The Walking Dead
• The Curse of Oak Island
• Tucker Carlson Tonight
• Fear the Walking Dead
• South Park
• WWE SmackDown Live
• Ancient Aliens
• Expedition Unknown (Discovery)
• Deadliest Catch
• Live PD
• Dr. Pimple Popper
• Guy’s Grocery Games
• American Pickers
• Alaskan Bush People
• Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives
• WWE Monday Night Raw

Okay, so there are some commonalities here, including Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Shameless, Stranger Things, Vikings, South Park and WWE SmackDown Live. There’s even more crossover when it comes to broadcast shows, with Democrats and Republicans alike enjoying This Is Us, Grey’s Anatomy, Supernatural, Chicago MED, 9-1-1, A Million Little Things, Chicago PD, The Big Bang Theory, Chicago Fire, New Amsterdam, The Blacklist and American Housewife.

And as far as cable/streaming shows go, Game of Thrones is at or near the top of the rankings for both parties, proving once and for all the unifying power of incest, war and dragons.

Some other insights from the survey:

• Democrats tended to like more comedies than Republicans.
• Republicans were more likely to enjoy reality TV.
• Democrats had more streaming shows among their favorites.

There’s also a graph tracking the favorite celebrities among Democrats and Republicans, although I have a hard time taking it too seriously. Republicans’ favorite celebrity is Gary Sinise? Their top favorite? No offense to Gary Sinese — I liked Forrest Gump as much as the next guy — but who has strong feelings about Gary Sinise?

But I’m getting sidetracked. The point is that the next time you get into an argument with a friend or family member about politics, pivot the conversation to TV. It’s safer.

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