Not even Starbucks could have saved George Smitherman’s campaign
According to the Globe, which actually studied this, the availability of Starbucks in any given riding offers no indication of which direction on the political spectrum the inhabitants will vote. And that includes the latte-sipping, laptop-toting set from downtown Toronto that was so mocked around the time of the municipal election.
According to the study, New Democrat ridings have the highest Starbucks density of the four major parties, with an average of 5.4 Starbucks locations in each riding. But that’s not much more than the Conservatives, who essentially tied the Liberals (3.9 and 3.8 Starbucks per riding, respectively). The Bloc Québécois had the lowest Starbucks density, 0.2 per riding, but that’s probably because Starbucks has been slow to colonize that province.
Of course, if the Globe really wants to explore the beverage-politics link, we suggest doing the same study, only with Tim Hortons.
• Does easy access to Starbucks latte really make you vote Liberal? [Globe and Mail]
