A graph from Orgnet plots book purchasing patterns by politics.There’s not much middle ground there. “These political books are preaching to the converted. The extreme book titles on both sides reveal a focus on hate, instead of debate. In a year of presidential election, is this the new arms race?”
Could it be that our book readers are key opinion leaders in their communities? An opinion leader is someone whose influence spreads much further than their immediate circle of friends & family. A current business book, The Influentials, by Ed Keller and Jon Berry, reports that reading “is [an influential’s] leading hobby”.
Meanwhile, Fundrace has a fancy map showing campaign contributions. It’s no surprise that cities are centers of Democratic funding and Middle America funds the Republicans, but look at the details.