But those numbers tell only part of the story, said Pew. In this smackdown between Big Macs and caffe lattes, Americans manage to typecast themselves by just about every demographic and ideological characteristic under the sun.
Ever heard the phrase "latte-drinking liberal"? Evidently there's something to it. Among self-described liberals, Starbucks carried the day, 46% to 33%. Among conservatives, McDonald's prevailed, 50% to 28%. Moderates, as expected, fell in between: McDonald's drew 44% and Starbucks 37%.
The pattern by political party is similar, if not quite as polarized. McDonald's wins among Republicans, Democrats and independents; however, its margin is much greater among the GOP (+20 percentage points) than among the other two groups (each +3 percentage points).
Demographic differences:
Gender. McDonald's has a 16-percentage-point edge among men, while the two icons battle to a virtual tie among women. Age. McDonald's carried the day by 30 percentage points among adults 65 and above. But Starbucks has a 13-percentage-point edge among 18-to-29 year olds. Income. For a lot of consumers, especially in today's hard times, McDonald's is a staple while Starbucks is an indulgence. No surprise, then, that people with annual incomes of $75,000 and above tend to choose Starbucks, while those with incomes below $30,000 go with McDonald's. (No surprise, either, that in the midst of a recession, McDonald's has been having a banner sales year while Starbucks has had to lay off thousands of employees and close hundreds of stores.) Education. College grads preferred Starbucks by 47% to 32%, while those who have a high school degree or less give the nod to McDonald's, 50% to 26%. Region. Perhaps out of loyalty to Starbucks' Seattle roots, Westerners favored the home team by 19 percentage points. Adults in all other regions go with McDonald's, although by a narrower margin in the East (+7 percentage points) than in the South (+17 percentage points) or Midwest (+19 percentage points). Race. Blacks are much more partial to McDonald's (+29 percentage points) than are whites (+8 percentage points). Hispanics split their ballots evenly. Religion. Protestants and Catholics both favor McDonald's. The religiously unaffiliated choose Starbucks (+13 percentage points). Lifestyle. Those who like a fast pace of life preferred Starbucks (+17 percentage points); however, more than seven-in-10 Americans preferred a slow pace of life-and among this group, McDonald's got the nod (+16 percentage points). As the tour makes clear, there is no shortage of variables separating the burger-and-fry crowd from the latte lovers. Some of these tend to reinforce others-for example, income and education usually go hand in hand.
To find out which variables carry the most independent weight, Pew conducted a multivariate regression analysis. (A regression analysis is a statistical technique that can be used to show the relative importance of each of a number of independent variables in predicting a phenomenon of interest, in this case, the likelihood that a respondent wants to live in a place with more Starbucks or one with more McDonalds. The independent variables in this model include ideology, party ID, gender, age, family income, education, race, community type, region, marital status, having children under age 18, prefer fast-paced lifestyle and religion.) It shows that, once one controls for all the factors cited above, the variables that do the most to explain whether someone chooses Starbucks over McDonalds are having a college degree, having a high income, being a liberal, being a Westerner and being a woman. For example, other factors held constant; a liberal is 13 percentage points more likely than a non-liberal to favor Starbucks over McDonald's.
One last survey finding that may interest fast food junkies and espresso aficionados alike has to do with happiness, an ingredient that is close to the heart of both brands' marketing campaigns. McDonald's sells Happy Meals and uses a clown as its corporate spokesperson. And Starbucks does not sell only coffee, it also sells stores that (in the words of the company mission statement) "are a haven, a break from the worries outside."
So, whose camp followers are happier? Turns out to be a virtual tie: Some 31% of those who prefer to have a Starbucks in their community describe themselves as very happy. So do 29% of those who would rather have a McDonald's in the neighborhood. And, for that matter, so do 27% of those who have no preference.
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