TrueCar sees political and vehicle choice aligning ahead of midterms

(October 30, 2014) SANTA MONICA, Calif. — TrueCar, Inc. finds some correlation between popular vehicle choices across U.S. states and recent voting patterns as the contest between Republicans and Democrats comes down to the wire with next week’s midterm election.

Rather than categorizing the U.S. political gap as R
ed State versus Blue State, TrueCar maps it as Truck State versus Car State. Full-size pickups, which dominate in Red State Texas, are the top retail seller in 34 states this year, while cars, wagons and small car-based crossovers lead in 16, including Blue State California.

Breaking the sales competition down to pickup/SUV versus car/wagon reveals a tighter state-by-state race as the parties vie for control of the Senate.

RealClearPolitics.com identifies 10 swing states (as of Oct. 28) of the 36 states with Senate races. In seven of those 10 states (Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, New Hampshire) the incumbent party is out of alignment with the current car-truck preference. In those states, buying patterns indicate a higher potential for a change in party. Buying preferences in North Carolina, Kentucky and Kansas are aligned with incumbent parties, perhaps giving those incumbents additional confidence.

"There’s unquestionably a link between vehicle choice and the political landscape — you see this clearly in the state-by-state data,” said John Krafcik, president of TrueCar. “Our bold call is that trucks and SUVs will outnumber cars and minivans at polling stations in swing states this year, putting Republicans back in control of the Senate for the first time since 2006.”