Some facts about elections in the US

Factoid - Corporations that spend the most money on lobbying make more money than Corporations that don't lobby.  The study- a research service created a stock index based on the amount corporations spend on lobbying.  Since 1998 companies that spend the most on lobbying, as a percentage of their total revenues, outperformed other companies.  The "lobby" index outperformed the S&P 500 by 11% a year since 2002.    In one specific example that the researchers looked at in 2004 the lobbying produced a $224 payoff for every dollar spent in lobbying.   Source:  Article in Economist, Oct.1.2011, p.82


Factoid - Voters subliminally exposed to a flag are more likely to vote Republican.  A study found in the US that subliminal exposure to a flag made people more likely to vote Republican.  The study involved 3 sets of questions about political preference, each person filled out a form asking a series of questions on 3 different occasions over the course of a couple months before and after the 2008 election.  The first two asked for preferences before the election.  Some of the forms had a small American flag decorating it, others were undecorated.  There was a statisically significant greater preference for McCain and Republicans over Obama and the Democrats in the answers on the form with the flag on it.  The questionaire after the election revealed that people who saw the flag on a questionaire were slightly over 10% less likely to have voted for Obama.  The result was then confirmed by another study in the spring of 2010, which again found exposure to an image of the flag changed responses to favor Republicans.   An earlier study in Israel had also found showing the national flag impacted voters perceptions of a particular political issue.   Source - Economist, Aug 6, 2011. p70.