Study

Do red states buy more trucks?

Predict the winning party in this year's elections based purely on what the best selling car in their state is.

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Tuesday marks mid-term elections here in the United States, which is kind of a big deal if you've gotten tired of constant campaign advertising. But as Election Day approaches, the constant voices attempting to forecast the results are only set to increase. The latest member of that growing fray is True Car, which has teamed with RealClearPolitics.com to attempt to predict the winning party in this year's elections based purely on what the best selling car in their state is.

TC identified so-called "truck" states and "car" states based on the best-selling bodystyle, with trucks, including SUVs, and cars tacking on hatchbacks, wagons and small crossovers. Trucks dominate, covering 34 states, while the remaining 16 states, including political giant California, purchase more cars than trucks. True Car and RCP cross-referenced those stats with the 36 states holding senate races on Tuesday, looking at their voting pattern in the 2012 presidential election and the projected leaders for Tuesday's race.

The results are fairly clear. Truck states, which in themselves are dominated by the Ford F-Series, are leaning Republican or have a strong history of voting for the GOP in the past, while car states tend to lean the other way. There are, naturally, a few exceptions. Truck-driving, Democratic-voting states include Oregon, New Mexico, Hawaii, Minnesota, Illinois, New Hampshire and Delaware. Car-driving conservatives, though, are fewer and further between, though, with South Carolina as the sole state.

Scroll down for the press release from True Car.
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TrueCarSees Politicaland Vehicle Choice Aligning Ahead of U.S. Midterm Elections

Many "Red" States Prefer Trucks While "Blue" State Buyers Go For Cars; Can Vehicle Preferences Determine Toss-up Races?

SANTA MONICA, Calif., (October 29, 2014)– TrueCar, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRUE), the negotiation-free car buying and selling platform, finds some correlation between popular vehicle choices across U.S. states and recent voting patterns as the contest between Republicans and Democrats comes down to the wire with next week's midterm election.

Rather than categorizing the U.S. political gap as Red State versus Blue State, TrueCar maps it as Truck State versus Car State. Full-size pickups, which dominate in Red State Texas, are the top retail seller in 34 states this year, while cars, wagons and small car-based crossovers lead in 16, including Blue State California. Breaking the sales competition down to pickup/SUV versus car/wagon reveals a tighter state-by-state race as the parties vie for control of the Senate.

RealClearPolitics.com identifies 10 swing states (as of 10/28) of the 36 states with Senate races. In seven of those 10 states (Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, New Hampshire) the incumbent party is out of alignment with the current car-truck preference. In those states, buying patterns indicate a higher potential for a change in party. Buying preferences in North Carolina, Kentucky and Kansas are aligned with incumbent parties, perhaps giving those incumbents additional confidence.

``There's unquestionably a link between vehicle choice and the political landscape – you see this clearly in the state-by-state data,"said J ohn Krafcik, president of TrueC ar. "Our bold call is that trucks and S UVs will outnumber cars and minivans at polling stations in swing states this year, putting Republicans back in control of the S enate for the first time since 2006."

About TrueCar
TrueCar, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRUE) is the negotiation-free carbuying and selling platform. TrueCar enables a negotiation-free car buying experience by giving buyers transparent insight into what others actually paid (price confidence), upfront pricing information (price discovery), and access to a network of trusted TrueCar Certified Dealers who provide guaranteed savings certificates and seamlessly complete the car purchase. The reality is that buying a car is painful and buyers fear they are going to overpay or be surprised with hidden fees. TrueCar's transparent upfront pricing information makes the car buying process simple so there are no surprises and buyers never overpay. TrueCar's mission is to make c ar buying simple, fair and fun. Its national network of more than 9,000 TrueCarCertified Dealers, including both new carfranchise dealers and non-franchise dealers, is committed to providing negotiation-free savings off MSRP and upfront pricing information for all car-buyers, including members of some of the country's largest membership and service organizations such as AARP, American Express, AAA, and US AA. Note: Not all program features are available in all states. G o to www.truecar.com for program details. TrueCar is headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif., with offices in Santa Barbara, Calif., San Francisco, Calif., and Austin, Texas.

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