Despite increasing political polarization, a new poll published Thursday shows that some brands have retained a strong reputation on both sides of the aisle.
Despite increasing political polarization, a new poll shows that some brands have retained a strong reputation on both sides of the aisle.
The study, published Thursday is the result of a partnership between Axios and Harris Poll, seeks to gauge the reputation of the “most visible brands in America.”
The top five brands by reputation in the 2022 Axios Harris Poll 100 were:
Trader Joe’s, a national specialty grocery chain
HEB Grocery, a supermarket chain based in Texas
Patagonia, an outdoor clothing retailer
The Hershey Company, the multinational chocolate manufacturer
Wegmans, an East Coast supermarket chain
All but Hershey are privately owned.
Those five brands were also among the top 10 brands of respondents when sorted by political party.
Grocery brands like Trader Joe’s, Wegman, and H-E-B tend to be more appealing to Democrats because of their focus on serving their local communities and by avoiding taking very public political stances, said Axios.
The party identification of a company’s leader could have a large impact on voters. For example, Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s Twitter fights over free speech and intent to vote Republican in the 2022 midterms likely contributed to its falling reputation among Democrats.
Republicans tended to favor brands that espouse conservative values or have explicitly Republican or pro-Trump leaders, like Chick-fil-A, Hobby Lobby, My Pillow and Home Depot, while Democrats tended to favor those who espoused “green” policies.”
An outlier is Patagonia, who has a reputation for activism. It maintains high standing with both Democrats and Republicans despite opposing former President Donald Trump’s proclamations to reduce the size of protected land and donating to Georgia state voting rights initiatives in 2021.
Social media companies like TikTok, Facebook and Twitter were among the bottom five ranks overall.
The Axios Harris 100 was based on a survey of 33,096 Americans conducted from Mar. 11 to Apr. 3.
Reporting from ADN America.
