TABS Group examines political leanings of vitamin and supplement users

SHELTON, Conn. The marketing and research company TABS Group, on Tuesday released survey results of voting preferences based on purchase behavior of vitamin and nutritional supplements. “These results provide interesting insight into vitamin and supplement users and how their usage patterns can predict and explain voting behavior. The stereotype of the typical user being a hippie, earthy-type just does not hold, as heavy category users skewed significantly more Republican than Democrat,” noted TABS Group president Kurt Jetta.

“Furthermore, the results hold meaningful political, policy and marketing implications for political candidates and supplement manufacturers,” Jetta added. “First, the political parties should consider why heavy users are more likely to support one party in greater numbers than the other particularly with respect to regulatory questions that arise. Second, candidates can gain guidance into media avenues that may be more efficient vehicles to reach their target audience. Conversely, manufacturers should take note of the more conservative political leanings of much of their heavy user base and adjust their media plans accordingly.”

Among the findings:

• Regular vitamin users are significantly more likely to be Republican than Democrat. 50 percent of Republicans claimed to purchase at least 3 types of supplements versus only 43 percent of Democrats;
• Republicans are twice as likely as Democrats or Independents of being very heavy users of the category, defined as purchasing at least 6 supplement types (8 percent for Republicans versus 4 percent for Democrats and Independents);
• Among likely voters in the Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton had a higher percentage of the preference among regular users versus non-users (44 percent as compared to 40 percent). Conversely, Democratic hopefuls Barack Obama and John Edwards had slightly higher preference among non-users than regular users. The split was 25 percent/23 percent and 14 percent/10 percent, respectively.
• Among likely voters in the Republican primary, there was a clear difference in preference of non-users versus regular users. Non-users tended to favor the more socially conservative candidates, the TABS Group stated, including Mike Huckabee (22 percent) and Fred Thompson (15 percent). Conversely, the support of regular users dropped substantially: Huckabee with 16 percent and Thompson with 10 percent.

The survey was fielded across three days, Jan. 9 through Jan. 11, polling 1,000 nationally representative households.