{"id":680,"date":"2026-03-04T05:14:42","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T12:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/talesofmanythings.com\/blog\/?p=680"},"modified":"2026-03-01T21:57:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T04:57:41","slug":"the-cheeseburger-constituency-why-your-bathroom-scale-doesnt-care-how-you-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/talesofmanythings.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/04\/the-cheeseburger-constituency-why-your-bathroom-scale-doesnt-care-how-you-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cheeseburger Constituency: Why Your Bathroom Scale Doesn\u2019t Care How You Vote"},"content":{"rendered":"

I dread talking politics. In the current climate, saying \u201cgood morning\u201d can feel like a partisan statement. No matter what I say, I risk offending half the room, and in a world where we\u2019ve forgotten how to bridge the \u201cSpace Between Us<\/a>\u201d, that\u2019s a heavy lift.<\/p>\n

A friend recently sent me two links that were so statistically hilarious from a scientific perspective that I couldn\u2019t resist writing about them.<\/p>\n

One link was to a freshly published article by Visual Capitalist<\/a> mapping obesity rates across the United States. The other from Wikipedia<\/a>\u00a0summarizing the results of the 2024 United States presidential election.<\/p>\n

On the surface, you can\u2019t help but engage the idea. The most fit states (California, Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Vermont) are all deep blue. Opposite them are the least fit states (Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, West Virginia) and they just happen to be deep red. The numbers clearly dance together. Lined up, the maps just snap into place. But these are statistical averages, not personal judgments about individuals.<\/p>\n

His conclusion? If a candidate wants to win, they should stop buying TV ads and start legislating (or de-legislating) McDonald\u2019s. Forget the stump speech. Just manage the fries.<\/p>\n

Fast food is just a convenient symbol here, not the sole driver of national health outcomes or votes, but the correlation creates a trail of questions.<\/p>\n

On the surface, food in politics is a funny argument. It\u2019s a hilarious punchline that\u2019s waiting to be noticed by a late night comedian. And it carries heavy scientific humor. Not because it\u2019s malicious. Not because it\u2019s partisan. But because it\u2019s such a clean textbook example of how the human brain desperately wants correlation to mean causation.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s where things get interesting.<\/p>\n

There is a deep universal desire for politicians to just shut up and do their jobs and the idea of \u201cThe Cheeseburger Constituency\u201d is a great visual. But scientifically, we are standing at a dangerous intersection of politics and data. We have to ask the hard question: Is this causation or just a really weird correlation?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Allure and Seduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our brains are \u201cpattern-seeking missiles<\/a>\u201d. We love a good story. If rustling grass usually meant predator, you didn\u2019t wait for a peer review. You ran.<\/p>\n

So when we see that states with higher Republican vote percentages also tend to have higher obesity rates, our brains light up:<\/p>\n