Political Leanings and Home Maintenance: A Surprising Connection

Are Your Home Improvement Habits Revealing Your Political Leanings?

Whether someone happens to be Delirious Over The Donald, Cruisin’ for Cruz, Hands Up for Hillary, or Feeling the Bern, it speaks volumes about their political leanings, their aspirations, even their very personalities. But here’s a surprise: It may also indicate how much they’re willing to shell out on the upkeep of their homes.

The early results are in: Democrats are generally willing to shell out more on home maintenance, repair, and improvement projects, according to HomeAdvisor’s 2016 True Cost Report. Left-leaning property owners are also more likely to hire professionals to come in and do the work for them.

Meanwhile, GOP die-hards tend to embrace a more do-it-yourself ethos and complete the work themselves.

HomeAdvisor surveyed more than 1,650 homeowners in February, finding that Democrats typically spent about six months researching their home improvement projects before laying out up to an average of $3,417. Republicans, on the other hand, spent about three months looking into their desired changes and spent an average of $2,194.

One theory on why Democrats are spending more on their homes is that they’re more likely to live in urban centers, where homes tend to be older, says Clayton Nall, a political science professor at Stanford University.

But home improvements weren’t just split along party lines. The survey also looked into trends among generational groups.

Members of Generation X are making the fewest home improvements and spending the least amount of money on the ones they do make, at just $3,723, according to the report. Baby boomers spent the most at $7,842, followed by millennials at $6,063.

Overall, homeowners reported completing more improvement projects in the past year, with a 12% increase, and they’re prepared to spend more on them in 2016, preferably in cash.

“People now have the money to do home repairs that they may have been putting off because of a down housing market,” says Leah Ingram, cost adviser for HomeAdvisor. Now they may be doing repairs in anticipation of selling, because many real estate markets are bouncing back.

So, are your home improvement habits revealing your political leanings? The answer may surprise you.