Goodbye "Soccer moms" and "NASCAR dads" -- hello "Starbucks Republicans"
House Republicans have come up with an agenda aimed at "Starbucks Republicans" -- mostly young suburbanites who are fiscally conservative and socially moderate and won't hesitate to pay $4 for a triple grande iced caramel macchiato. A Florida-based Democratic pollster, Dave Beattie, coined the phrase "Starbucks Republicans" in 2004, calling them independent-leaning voters in high-growth areas in the South and West who ultimately backed George W. Bush two years ago but are now disappointed in the president and the Republican Congress. (Raleigh News & Observer/reg.-req. | Get login/pw)
I would call myself a Starbucks Republican, I only get highly priced drinks because either they're free or I get a 30 percent cut off of it.
Posted by: James the Barista | May 14, 2006 at 03:14 PM
I would never call myself republican, its an issue of self respect.
Posted by: stephen / sbux barista | May 14, 2006 at 07:44 PM
Interesting...i would guess most starbucks republicans are either young Christians or middle aged women.
--RC of strangeculture.blogspot.com
Posted by: RC of strangeculture | May 14, 2006 at 11:06 PM
RC, What do you think Baristas are other then young christians and middled aged women...? Think about and you'll see...unless you live in NY where they feel the need for a union...liberal I say.
Posted by: James the Barista | May 15, 2006 at 12:31 AM
Great thread. ;-)
I would consider myself more of a Starbucks conservative/libertarian.
Chris
http://amateureconblog.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Christopher Meisenzahl | May 15, 2006 at 03:39 AM
I think this could be trouble because Starbucks obviously has A very liberal ideology. But anything to stop the SIREN! Yes I am sitting in a Starbucks right now.
Posted by: Boston Starbucks Rebel. | May 15, 2006 at 04:52 AM
I'm a Starbucks Republican, because I truly believe that Starbucks is a great tool for exploitation and oppression. It exploits its workers, it oppresses the poor farmers who grow its coffee and don't earn a living wage, and it contributes to the destruction of the rain forest.
Each cup of Starbucks coffee tastes of sweet, sweet oppression. As a Republican I grow stronger by feeding on the tears of misery shed by others. It powers my black heart which doesn't pump blood like a normal person's, but a black, vile sludge of evil and repression. Mmmmmm, that's good exploitation!
Posted by: Douchey McRichguy | May 15, 2006 at 07:15 AM
i'm a democrat, agnostic, and i proudly work at and drink starbucks. i'd say that's what the majority of baristas in my store are.
Posted by: barista chica | May 15, 2006 at 12:19 PM
I work at Starbucks and I consider myself a republican/fiscal conservative/social moderate, and I feel that this current admin is not anything that represents me. However, I know most of our customers are republicans. It's pretty obvious. Think about the demographic of customers in your store. The majority that come in to mine are late 20's to early 40's business people. Mostly real estate, finance, pharma, etc. These people mostly lean right.
Posted by: JustABarista | May 15, 2006 at 01:36 PM
"Fiscally conservative" and "won't hesitate to pay $4 for a triple grande iced caramel macchiato" in the same sentence is hilarious and causes one to think of the following equation:
Conservative = I want more than you.
Posted by: Doctiloquus | May 15, 2006 at 08:42 PM
Fiscally conservative= Don't take more of my hard earned money and give it away, instead let me keep it and spend it the way I see fit.
Posted by: JustABarista | May 15, 2006 at 11:13 PM
Fiscally conservative = Take all my money you want to give to defense contractors and big business in the form of tax breaks, but don't you dare think of giving a dime to anyone whose skin is darker than this here paper bag.
Posted by: Nosmo King | May 16, 2006 at 05:10 AM
Do you always imply racism to try to strawman your way through arguments? Most of the entitlement money give aways (welfare, etc) go to white people, so don't even try that. Infact, implying that welfare mostly goes to people with "skin darker than this here paper bag" is racist in itself. Anyways, fiscally conservative means supplying the country with what it needs, a defense, roads, education, etc and cutting in areas where the spending is doing no good or is unwarranted.
Posted by: JustABarista | May 16, 2006 at 02:00 PM
It's funny how people refer to themselves with labels that are in direct contradiction to their behavior. I find the discrepancy between Label and Behavior rather telling in this case. To whit:
"Hi. I'm a fiscal conservative, but have no problem spending $4 on a cup of steamed milk with a shot or two of coffee mixed in."
Okay:
$4 X 25 business days = $100/month steamed-milk bill.
Double that to $200/month for those of us who have two cups of steamed milk per work day. Hardly conservative spending for what is, essentially, flavored milk.
Therefore, a Starbucks Fiscal Conservative equals... what, exactly? People who think they are one thing and behave like they are another?
The devil is in precisely these kinds of small details.
And I like the devil.
Posted by: Doctiloquus | May 16, 2006 at 03:21 PM
I have to say that when I read the sentence about being fiscaly conservative and willing to spend 4$ on coffee, I thought it was a typo, because it is soo contradictory.
"The majority that come in to mine are late 20's to early 40's business people. Mostly real estate, finance, pharma, etc. These people mostly lean right."
Why are you equating success with being a republican? New York and California-both Blue States, both very "successful", both have a lot of Starbucks.
Mississippi, a red state, is the "poorest" of the states and has a total of 17 starbucks.....
Posted by: Newbiebarista | May 16, 2006 at 05:26 PM
Doctiloquus- Being fiscally conservative usually refers to a macroeconomic fiscal policy, not a personal finance policy.
Newbiebarista- I did not connect "success" to being a republican. I connected industries, such as finance, that tend to lean right. It's very easy to be successful outside of these industries, just look at Howard.
Posted by: JustABarista | May 16, 2006 at 08:23 PM
"Being fiscally conservative usually refers to a macroeconomic fiscal policy, not a personal finance policy."
Oh. I get it. "Do as I say and not as I do."
It worked for my parents (or so they thought). I guess it can work for so-called "fiscal conservatives," too.
Posted by: | May 17, 2006 at 05:06 PM
I wrote the above comment about "Do as I say..." Forgot to add my moniker to the by line.
Posted by: Doctiloquus | May 17, 2006 at 05:08 PM
Fiscally conservative is definitely a macroeconomic view...won't think twice about spending money on creature comforts like cars and Starbucks because of the outward perception of wealth.
Red state, blue state...who cares? We all bleed "Starbucks green" here!!!
Posted by: Eric | June 01, 2006 at 07:46 AM
Why do people feel the need to analyze everything that goes on in the world today? Can't people just drink their flavored coffee in peace and quite without all the political bull crap? Its just coffee, get over it. And who gives a rats ass about "Starbucks Republicians" any ways.
Posted by: baristaman | June 09, 2006 at 09:00 AM
Eric, you work for starbucks dont you?
Posted by: B | June 09, 2006 at 06:36 PM
This reminds me of a New Yorker cartoon. Girl tells her friend, "He was fiscally conservative and socially liberal. Which meant he was cheap and liked to sleep around".
Posted by: Tom Brady | June 11, 2006 at 08:52 PM