How your first name, beer and smartphone predict your politics

An example of how one name, Jane, tends to donate three times as much to Democrats.

I love this. They have a very cool chart that you can click on to find your name and see how it tends to donate, Democratic or repugican:
From Chris Wilson at Yahoo News:

Nicknames and diminutives also correlate to party preference. “Christopher”—just to pick a random name out of my hat—tilts slightly to Republicans, while “Chris” trends slightly Democratic (though that could be because there are some women named Chris out there). People named William have a 57 percent chance of supporting the repugicans, while Willies are the most Democratic name on the list at 93 percent.
Along the same lines, people named Liz are extremely Democratic, with only 11 percent donating to repugicans. But 26 percent of Elizabeths give to the repugicans, and Betty is one of the most repugican women’s names on the list, with 37 percent of women who share their name with Barney Rubble’s wife ponying up cash on behalf of a candidate who wanted to replace President Obama.
Of all names that appear at least 25 times, the most repugican men’s name on the list is Brent. (Willard is No. 4!) The most repugican women’s name on the list is Ashley. But that could include some men, as could the next two women’s names, Kelly and Courtney. So let’s declare Patsy, the No. 4 contender, the most repugican women’s name.

How fascinating. While names like Bipsy or Tagg would probably suggest you’re a repugican, I’m fascinating that names like Jane are Democratic, or that Jerry, James, Frank and Douglas are repugican.
Oh, and Willards are UBER-repugican.
Why is this?
It’s possible that different ethnic groups tend towards certain names. Certainly Greeks have an awful lot of Georges, followed by Johns. They tend to use biblical names. And Greeks in America tend to be Democratic. But then again, the Greeks are hardly the only people to call our kids George and John. I’m really intrigued by this. Does anyone have any more info on how these could possibly be linked?
Other studies like this have been done, looking at what your beer says about your politics, for example. Then again, you pick your beer, you usually don’t choose your own name.

Folks have also looked at what your smartphone, and use of Twitter and Facebook, says about your vote.

• 40% of Obama supporters get their news from Twitter and Facebook, compared to 33% of Romney supporters who use social media to gather news
• 46% of people who post their political preferences on social media support Barack Obama, suggesting that Obama supporters are more active on social media
• Smart phone users are more likely to vote for President Obama, with 51% of smart phone users supporting Obama
• Men are more likely to own a smart phone, and lose it, with 68% of men losing their smart phones

I love this stuff. Though it’s also rather scary. This is what the data marketers do every day. They pull together everything you’ve done in life and predict what you’ll buy, who you’ll vote for, and even who you sleep with (meaning, your sexual orientation).
Still, I find this awfully cool.