Minnesota Judges Politics By Car More Than Almost Any State

These days, it seems that people make a lot of assumptions based on the vehicle you drive. They might guess things like your income, whether or not you have kids, and even the political party you support. And here in Minnesota, we're near the top of the list of states that judge you most by your ride!

Do Minnesotans Judge People by the Car They Drive?

When you're tooling along Highway 52 or another busy road or highway here in Rochester, do you judge your fellow drivers by the vehicle they're driving? Don't worry, if you do-- and I'll admit that I do-- because it's something many of us have done. In fact, a new survey by the crew at Lemon Law Experts, 78 percent of Americans have made assumptions about a stranger’s politics based solely on the car they drive.

Yes, in today's polarized day and age, it's not surprising that car brands have turned into political statements. But what did surprise me was that the Lemon Law Experts study showed that Minnesotans are among the quickest in the country to read them that way.

Minnesota Ranks Among the Top States for Judging Drivers

Their survey asked respondents how frequently they make assumptions about a person based on their vehicle, the brands people associate with Democrats and Republicans, and more, and then broke the data down for each state in the country.

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And, the results found that Minnesota ranks #3 in the country for people judging each other's politics based on the cars they drive. The Land of 10,000 Lakes also took the top spot in the country when it comes to judging a first date by their car.

Here's How Minnesotans Judge Drivers by Their Vehicles

Specifically, here's what their survey revealed about drivers here in the North Star State:

73% would judge a first date's politics by the car they drive, the highest rate in the country.
82% of residents have judged a stranger's politics by the car they drive.
51% would decide against a car brand because of its political associations.
45% say Tesla is the last brand of car they would want to be seen driving.
43% would judge a coworker's politics by the car they drive.

On the other hand, the survey found that South Carolina and Mississippi residents are the least likely to make political assumptions about drivers based on their cars. And behind the Cheddar Curtain over in Wisconsin, residents of the Badger State ranked 12th in the survey, while down in Iowa, residents of the Hawkeye State came in ranked 23rd.