Porn and Republicans

One of the most interesting stories of the 2008 election in Denver that I never got around to blogging was relentless pro-McCain and anti-Obama campaigning on the street sign for Shotgun Willies, a strip club at the corner of Colorado Boulevard and Virginia Avenue in Glendale, Colorado (a small Arapahoe County enclave surrounded on all sides by the City and County of Denver). It is a prominent sign. One of my previous employers who had an office nearby used it as our main landmark when giving people directions to our office for years. One or two other strip clubs also had pro-GOP signage when they had any political messages at all.

At the time, I'd chalked it up to the adultery factor. McCain has had lots of wives and admitted in his memoirs to having numerous affairs while married. Obama's romantic life was decidedly more monogamous.

Well, it turns out that the connection between the porn industry and the Republican party is more than mere coincidence. It wasn't just based upon personal factors that distinguished particular candidates in a particular election either. The proof comes from yet another red state, blue state comparison that undermines the image of Republicans as morally virtuous family values types:

Utah, averaged 5.47 adult content subscriptions per 1000 home broadband users; Montana bought the least with 1.92 per 1000. . . . Number 10 on the list was West Virginia at 2.94 subscriptions per 1000, while number 41, Michigan, averaged 2.32. Eight of the top 10 pornography consuming states gave their electoral votes to John McCain in last year's presidential election – Florida and Hawaii were the exceptions. While six out of the lowest 10 favoured Barack Obama.

Hat Tip: The Big Orange Giant.

Also, while high per capita porn consumption rates are associated with conservative turf, the same is not true when it comes to per capita condom consumption. Reliably Democratic Denver leads the nation on the measure, at at 189% of the average for the nation's 50 largest cities. As in economics, Republicans are big on talk, and Democrats prefer action.