MYNORTHWEST NEWS

What you drive might say how you’ll vote

Sep 6, 2016, 8:50 AM | Updated: 9:02 am

Everybody loves polls during a presidential election. And you might not realize it, but Northwest drivers are engaging in their own presidential poll while traveling.

Auto market website Autolist provides a peek into Washington drivers’ likelihood of voting for the next president. In Washington state, according to customers on its website, Clinton is favored by 51 percent, while Trump is favored by 27 percent. A total of 13 percent are undecided, and 9 percent of drivers are honking their horn for Gary Johnson.

Autolist found that the Clinton and Trump camps each think quite differently when it comes to car buying habits. For example, Clinton voters are 59 percent more likely to buy an electric vehicle. Trump voters, on the other hand, they want power. Trump supporters are 31 percent more likely to highly value horsepower and torque when picking up a car.

Presidential poll by car

But the data breaks down further in this presidential poll.

• Hillary Clinton voters mostly drive Toyota Carollas
• Donald Trump voters mostly drive a Chevrolet Equinox

The spread of car preferences is wide between the two camps, but the most popular make for each side:

• Clinton voters favor Toyotas — 14 percent of them drive one.
• Trump voters’ most popular make is Chevrolet at 20 percent.

And it turns out that both Clinton and Trump voters have one thing in common. Adding up the makes by nationality shows that both prefer to drive American — 39 percent for Clinton and 47 percent for Trump.

National poll

When considering voters nationally in Autolist’s presidential poll, things change up a bit. Clinton is favored nationally by drivers by 40 percent; Trump is at 38 percent; Johnson takes 14 percent, and 8 percent are undecided.

Washington’s Clinton voters are bit different than the rest of the country — though, not by much. Trump supporters seem to follow a similar path, however, while they can agree on who to vote for, they may have a Ford vs. Chevy battle.

Most common car
• Hillary Clinton voters more commonly drive a Honda Civic
• Donald Trump voters more commonly drive a Ford F-150

Most common car nationality
• Hillary Clinton voters: Japanese (46 percent)
• Donald trump voters: American (55 percent)

Clinton supporters are more likely to purchase a hybrid car. Trump fans are 17 percent more likely to seek out engine horsepower and torque.

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What you drive might say how you’ll vote