Do Politics Shape What We Buy? Political Alignment and its Impact on the U.S. Consumer Basket

Abstract

This thesis provides an empirical investigation into whether political alignment is associated with greater brand concentration in U.S. convenience store purchases. The Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, traditionally applied to measuring market concentration, is extended to the new context of consumer brand choice at the county level. By using transaction-level data, from PDI Technologies, across 1,132 counties and 13 product categories, OLS regressions show that on average, counties showing greater political alignment reveal greater brand concentration, with the effect both varying considerably across product categories as well as fluctuating with the inclusion of socio-demographic controls. The edible grocery category displays the most robust relationship, persisting through the addition of socio-demographic variables. These findings suggest that political alignment is correlated with economic homogeneity, driven by a combination of mechanisms including limited retail access, regional culture, social conformity, and income inequality. The implications of these findings are of particular relevance to brand managers, convenience store chains, and policymakers, highlighting how political sorting extends well beyond just voting behavior and into basic, daily consumer choice and decisions. This has a direct consequence on product development, inventory management, brand assortment strategies, distribution strategies, and marketing decisions, at the local market level.