Forget Bud Light, Obama Should Brew Support with Dos Equis

Aug. 22, 2012 -- Are you a "Daily Show" addict, a Vodka drinker and Reggie Bush fan? Then odds are you are probably planning to vote for Barack Obama come November.

Or do you prefer to watch NCIS, eat at Chick-fil-A and root for NASCAR's Dale Earnhardt Jr.? If that's more your style, then you are likely a Mitt Romney supporter, according to Facebook "like" data aggregated by Microstrategy's Wisdom application.

Wisdom's analysis of 14 million Facebook users' "like" history finds corporate brands and celebrity figures, and that partisan fans are just as divided among their brand preferences as their political partiality.

Take beer, for example. Out on the campaign trail Obama has stopped for a cold one at least three times in the past two months. Each time he ordered Bud Light, a brand that screams "all-American" but that is actually more popular online with Romney's fans than with the president's supporters.

More than 6,300 Romney fans "like" Bud Light on Facebook, the Wisdom app shows, making them 8 percent more likely to show their online support for the brew than the average Wisdom user, who has either opted into the information-gathering app on Facebook or is friends with someone who has.

Dos Equis, the Mexican lager known for its "Most Interesting Man in the World" commercials, may be a better choice if Obama is looking to show camaraderie with his 27 million Facebook fans.

About 24,000 of Obama's Facebook supporters in the Wisdom database, which represents about 3 percent of all Obama's Facebook fans, are also Dos Equis fans, making Obama supporters about 6 percent more likely to like Dos Equis than the average Wisdom Facebook user. Obama fans are only 4 percent more likely to "like" Bud Light.

While Obama does not seem to be making his beverage choices based on his online fan base, both the president and his GOP rival are in tune with their Facebook fans when it comes to their campaign playlist.

Romney's 17-song campaign compilation includes the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" and country stars like Toby Keith, both of which are among the top five most popular musicians for Romney's Facebook fans.

Singer Jennifer Hudson is featured on Obama's official campaign playlist and is the third most-liked artist among the president's Facebook fans.

Facebook "like" data can also be a good way for candidates to pick which campaign locations could draw the largest crowds or decide which TV shows a candidate should advertise during, said Warren Getler, a spokesman for Microstrategy's Wisdom App.

The Wisdom app shows that Romney fans tend to be older (over the age of 45), male and married, live in rural areas and have no more than an bachelor's degree. Obama fans, on the other hand, are younger (31-years-old on average), unmarried, female, have a bachelor's degree or higher education and are living in an urban area.

The application is not, though, a predictor of how people will vote, Getler said.

"We are not saying what happens on Facebook is a bellwether for what is going to happen in the election," Getler said.