The Porsche Liberals

What kind of car people drive has long been considered a clue to their psyche, including their sexual fantasies. Now, would you believe it's a tip-off to their political fantasies as well?

That notion comes out of a survey of 3,500 college teachers by two political scientists, Stanford's Seymour Martin Lipset and the University of Connecticut's Everett C. Ladd Jr. After asking a series of questions about issues and candidates, they conclude that the more conservative faculty members choose U.S. cars (with General Motors autos favored by the most conservative of the conservative). Liberals have a greater tendency to buy foreign models.

Almost three-fifths of the foreign-car owners in the survey favored detente, but only one-third of the U.S.-auto owners did. Virtually all the Saab drivers--98%--voted for George McGovern in 1972; so did 82% of the Mercedes drivers, 80% of those with Volvos, 76% of the Porsche owners, 74% of the Volkswagen owners. By contrast, 49% of the professors with G.M. cars voted for Richard Nixon; he had been less favored by owners of Fords (40%) and Chrysler products (37%).

Lipset and Ladd observe in the Chronicle of Higher Education that they cannot apply the same yardstick to the entire population--highly educated voters tend to be much more fixed and consistent than other groups in their beliefs. But, says Lipset, "If I were a Democratic precinct worker and wanted to get people to the polls who are sympathetic to my candidate, I'd pick houses with foreign cars in front."

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