Starbucks Dems vs. Dunkin' Donuts Dems

[Benjamin Zimmer]

Article in the Boston Globe on the purported divide between Starbucks
Democrats (Obama supporters) and Dunkin' Donuts Democrats (Clinton
supporters):

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http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/food/articles/2008/03/18/democrats_are_divided_along_coffee_lines/
Perhaps it's not surprising that coffee has been percolating
throughout this election cycle. The language of politics constantly
evolves to keep up with shifting cultural dynamics. The past decade
has brought to the fore such categories as "soccer moms," "NASCAR
dads," and "security moms." As far back as December 1999, an article
by Joshua Micah Marshall in The American Prospect alluded to
"sushi-and-Starbucks Democrats" who were supporting candidate Bill
Bradley.
Then, as the 2004 presidential primaries got underway, UMass-Amherst
journalism professor Ralph Whitehead became one of the first to add
Dunkin' Donuts to the linguistic equation. Whitehead's intention, he
said, was to describe a long-standing demographic division in the
Democratic Party between "somebody who might sit in a Starbucks with a
latte and a laptop, and somebody who might grab Dunkin' Donuts coffee
on the drive-through and get back on the snowplow."
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--Ben Zimmer

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