The country may be more politically polarized than ever, but there are at least a couple things that both Democrats and Republicans agree on: They dig “This is Us” and “Game of Thrones.”
The NBC drama and former HBO fantasy series were some of the top picks on both sides of the aisle, according to a recent survey from E-Poll Market Research.
Fifty-five percent of Democrats counted “This is Us” as their fave broadcast TV show, along with 68 percent of Republicans. Fifty-two percent of Democrats and 47 percent of Republicans surveyed also listed “Chicago Med” as one of their top TV picks. Other popular choices among Democrats included “Supernatural,” Fox’s “9-1-1” and “The Rookie,” while Republicans said they delighted in “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Last Man Standing” and Chicago PD.”
The two parties had more than half of the top 20 TV shows in common, but there were a few notable differences among their boob tube choices.
The results show that, of the Americans surveyed, Democrats prefer getting more laughs from their small screen fare, picking seven sitcoms as their favorites, compared to the GOP respondents’ three comedy shows.
A separate survey of top streaming and cable shows found that Democrats preferred Starz’s “Power,” with 63 percent of those surveyed naming it as their favored show, and “Game of Thrones,” with 51 percent. Sixty-seven percent of Republicans named “Game of Thrones” — which ended its eight-season run last year — as their No. 1 TV choice, followed by 63 percent for the History Channel’s “Vikings.”
While their TV tastes may be more or less sympatico, Democrats and Republicans surveyed expressed a fondness for very different Hollywood stars.
Tom Hanks, Betty White and James Earl Jones were the top three choices in performers for Democrats, while Gary Sinise, Clint Eastwood and “Thor” star Chris Hemsworth were the favorites for Republicans.
E-Poll found the celebrity choices for Democrats to be “ethnically diverse and balanced among men and women,” while the picks for Republicans were “mainly white and 80 percent men.”
Only a small number of celebs appeared to transcend political party lines, with Hanks and White, along with Carol Burnett, Hugh Jackman, Sandra Bullock and the late Fred Rogers appearing on the top 20 entertainers on both lists.
The report is based on an aggregation of survey responses from E-Score Programs and E-Score Celebrity conducted from the beginning of the year through last month, representing more than 150,000 total individual surveys.
