I live in Cedar City, Utah. While this is a college town, it’s what liberals would call arch-conservative. Heck … we’re a 4 hour drive away from Salt Lake, which passes for liberal in these parts.*
Last weekend, The Wall Street Journal published an article discussing how suburbs are getting more urban in temperament, and how that shows in the sort of retail establishments they have. And on their Washington Wire blog they included data from Experian about this.
This raises an interesting question about my small city on the interstate. We don’t have enough local population to support the whole spectrum of establishments ranked in the article. Instead, we have a handful. So did corporate offices and franchisers choose these based on politics?
The tables in the source are sortable, and come with a certain sort specified. By all means, go and play with them. Here, higher values for “C. Index” and “L. Index” indicate places that are favored by conservatives or liberals. Higher/lower values in both categories indicates places that independents avoid/frequent.
Anyway, here’s the chain restaurants. I’ve highlighted the ones we have locally. Obviously, we don’t have many … but yes indeed … we are heavily weighted towards the restaurants that liberals are less likely to frequent.
Chain Restaurants
Sorted by Liberalness
| Restaurant | C. Index | L. Index | |
| CALIFORNIA PIZZA KITCHEN | 75 | 146 | |
| ROMANO'S MACARONI GRILL | 96 | 141 | |
| RUTH'S CHRIS STEAK HOUSE | 93 | 137 | |
| ON THE BORDER | 94 | 136 | |
| P.F. CHANG'S CHINA BISTRO | 80 | 133 | |
| BERTUCCI'S | 87 | 132 | |
| THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY | 87 | 132 | |
| FRIENDLY'S | 69 | 132 | |
| MARIE CALLENDER'S | 104 | 123 | |
| CHEVY'S | 93 | 123 | |
| HOOTERS | 105 | 121 | |
| BUFFALO WILD WINGS … | 86 | 118 | |
| PONDEROSA … | 97 | 112 | |
| OLD COUNTRY BUFFET | 81 | 111 | |
| CARRABBA'S ITALIAN … | 110 | 110 | |
| FUDDRUCKER'S | 84 | 110 | |
| JOE'S CRAB SHACK | 84 | 110 | |
| RUBY TUESDAY | 93 | 109 | |
| O'CHARLEY'S | 121 | 108 | |
| PERKINS | 95 | 108 | |
| RED ROBIN | 105 | 106 | |
| IHOP | 94 | 106 | |
| MIMI'S CAFE | 103 | 105 | |
| SHONEY'S | 110 | 104 | |
| TGI FRIDAY'S | 92 | 104 | |
| LONE STAR … | 104 | 102 | |
| OLIVE GARDEN | 101 | 102 | |
| CHUCK E. CHEESE'S | 89 | 101 | |
| PAPA MURPHY'S | 116 | 98 | |
| RED LOBSTER | 101 | 97 | |
| APPLEBEE'S | 100 | 97 | |
| OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE | 100 | 97 | |
| DENNY'S | 99 | 96 | |
| BIG BOY | 98 | 96 | |
| CHILI'S GRILL & BAR | 99 | 94 | |
| BLACK ANGUS STEAKHOUSE | 101 | 93 | |
| HOMETOWN BUFFET | 116 | 88 | |
| GOLDEN CORRAL | 101 | 86 | |
| SIZZLER | 103 | 85 | |
| LONGHORN STEAKHOUSE | 115 | 82 | |
| CRACKER BARREL | 118 | 75 | |
| BOB EVANS | 110 | 71 |
And here’s a little local trivia: the Shoney’s here closed about 11 years ago, and was replaced by a politically similar IHOP which has never thrived.
Being along I-15, and a college town, it’s no surprise that we have many more fast food places.
Fast Food Establishments
Sorted by Conservativeness
| Fast Food Establishment | C. Index | L. Index | |
| KRYSTAL | 118 | 87 | |
| SCHLOTZSKY'S DELI | 114 | 95 | |
| WHATABURGER | 114 | 87 | |
| CAPTAIN D'S | 113 | 101 | |
| STEAK'N SHAKE | 113 | 98 | |
| CHICK-FIL-A | 113 | 81 | |
| ZAXBY'S | 110 | 102 | |
| BOJANGLES' | 109 | 102 | |
| DAIRY QUEEN | 109 | 86 | |
| CHURCH'S FRIED CHICKEN | 107 | 97 | |
| FAZOLI'S ITALIAN | 107 | 93 | |
| LONG JOHN SILVER'S | 104 | 74 | |
| PAPA JOHN'S | 103 | 97 | |
| DONATOS PIZZA | 103 | 95 | |
| ARBY'S | 103 | 92 | |
| SONIC | 103 | 88 | |
| CHECKERS | 102 | 108 | |
| HARDEE'S | 102 | 78 | |
| KRISPY KREME | 101 | 102 | |
| PIZZA HUT | 101 | 83 | |
| PIZZA INN | 100 | 108 | |
| DOMINO'S PIZZA | 100 | 101 | |
| LITTLE CAESAR'S | 100 | 95 | |
| MCDONALD'S | 100 | 95 | |
| WENDY'S | 100 | 93 | |
| COLD STONE CREAMERY | 99 | 134 | |
| BOSTON MARKET | 98 | 135 | |
| KFC | 98 | 97 | |
| BURGER KING | 98 | 95 | |
| PANDA EXPRESS | 97 | 120 | |
| SUBWAY | 97 | 100 | |
| RALLY'S | 97 | 82 | |
| BASKIN & ROBBINS | 96 | 113 | |
| POPEYES | 95 | 111 | |
| CARL'S JR. | 95 | 110 | |
| WHITE CASTLE | 95 | 109 | |
| CICI'S PIZZA | 95 | 105 | |
| PANERA BREAD | 94 | 126 | |
| OTHER FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS | 94 | 108 | |
| TACO BELL | 94 | 99 | |
| GODFATHER'S PIZZA | 94 | 75 | |
| EINSTEIN BROS. BAGELS | 93 | 126 | |
| DEL TACO | 93 | 109 | |
| MAZZIO'S | 93 | 98 | |
| JACK-IN-THE-BOX | 93 | 95 | |
| WING STOP | 92 | 90 | |
| QUIZNOS SUB | 90 | 117 | |
| STARBUCKS | 89 | 136 | |
| DUNKIN' DONUTS | 89 | 113 | |
| A & W | 89 | 104 | |
| EL POLLO LOCO | 87 | 94 | |
| BLIMPIE | 86 | 136 | |
| ROUND TABLE PIZZA | 85 | 126 | |
| WIENERSCHNITZEL | 85 | 83 | |
| SBARRO | 83 | 126 | |
| QDOBA | 82 | 147 | |
| TACO TIME | 81 | 98 | |
| CHIPOTLE | 75 | 160 | |
| AU BON PAIN | 74 | 182 | |
| JAMBA JUICE | 72 | 130 |
The evidence is much more mixed here. But quite a few of the highlighted places towards the bottom of the list of conservativeness are not liberal strongholds either: like Godfather’s, Burger King, or KFC, and even Subway and Taco Bell.
* FWIW: There’s been a big local controversy ever since the state of Utah designated my school, Southern Utah University, as the state’s designated liberal arts school. It’s so conservative around here that just the word “liberal” in liberal arts ticks people off.
Via Marginal Revolution.
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