It’s not just your imagination: The Karens prefer Joe Biden.
According to an extremely unscientific polling analysis, randomly-selected American women with the first name “Karen” prefer Democratic nominee Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. to President Donald J. Trump. In fact, people with the name “Karen” were the most likely to back Biden, compared to the 19 other common names in New York Times/Sienna College polls.
The New York Times has surveyed more than 17,000 likely voters in battleground states since September, and the paper published the results of those polls broken down by the ten most common first names for men and women.
The names illustrate a political gender gap where men are more likely to support Trump and women are more likely to back Biden.
Men with the name “Richard” proved most likely to support Trump over Biden (64 percent to 36 percent), followed closely by men with the names “Thomas” (61 percent to 39 percent) and “William” (58 percent to 42 percent).
Michaels (56 percent), Roberts (56 percent), Jameses (56 percent), Johns (53 percent), and Davids (51 percent) also favored Trump. Women with the first names Nancy (57 percent), Jennifer (56 percent), and Linda (51 percent) also preferred the president.
Men with the names Christopher and Joseph proved evenly split between Trump and Biden at 50 percent each.
Women with the remaining seven names all tilted toward Biden. Marys (52 percent), Susans (52 percent), Elizabeths (53 percent), Patricias (54 percent), Lisas (54 percent), and Barbaras (58 percent) generally supported the Democrat.
Yet no female name proved quite so effective a predictor of political support as “Karen” (60 percent for Biden).
Karens are backing Biden, 60 percent to 40 percent, per New York Times and Siena College polling. https://t.co/Mw8LdGhkL8 pic.twitter.com/VQLzyXETF2
— Eli Yokley (@eyokley) November 2, 2020
This study means approximately nothing, zip, zilch. It does seem oddly fitting, however, that women with the name Karen would support Joe Biden.
Due to no fault of actual women named “Karen,” the name Karen has become something of a meme, referring to a self-important busybody who always asks to see the manager, demanding “Do you know who I am?” Karens would shout at you in a grocery store if your toddlers weren’t wearing coronavirus masks. Karens would misinterpret your actions as a threat to their safety. You get the picture.
Joe Biden arguably represents the ultimate Karen. He takes divisive stances on political issues and claims he is just following “the science.” He emphasizes masks and even suggested he would implement a nationwide mask mandate. He responds to Trump’s aggressive personality by claiming the moral high ground while blatantly lying about Trump. When confronted about his alleged connections to his son’s nefarious influence peddling with the Chinese, Biden says the whole issue is a distraction. He says voters don’t deserve to know whether or not he’ll pack the Supreme Court and he says black people who don’t vote for him “ain’t black.”
And yes, there’s a realistic chance this character will become America’s next president.
The New York Times study does not prove anything about the millions of American women whose name has become a meme through no fault of their own. I have met many women named Karen and none of them have been self-important busybodies. Yet this Karen-Biden statistic does seem oddly fitting.
Tyler O’Neil is the author of Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Follow him on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
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