Summer showdown: Beach vs. mountains

Every once in a while, the Fix mind wonders from politics. (Yes, it’s true.)

And when that happens, we are almost always thinking about one of two things: 1) Catholic University field hockey or 2) vacation.

Now, thanks to our partnership with the stand-out Washington Post polling team — follow them on Twitter @postpolls — we can now resolve an age-old question relating to vacation: mountains or beach?

A security man relaxes on the beach in Sopot on June 20, 2012,during the Euro 2012 football championships. AFP PHOTO / PATRIK STOLLARZPATRIK STOLLARZ/AFP/GettyImages

The beach is a top choice across racial and partisan lines, with nearly three-quarters of all Americans expressing positive views of a summertime trip to the water’s edge, according to new Washington Post-ABC News polling.

At 66 percent favorable, the mountains are also a broadly popular destination, but far more so among whites than non-whites, and among Republicans and independents more than Democrats.

While it might be a defining question in personality tests, half of all Americans have positive impressions of both mountain and beach getaways. (Vacation is vacation, after all.)

Americans living in Western states are particularly fond of the mountains, with more than three-quarters holding favorable opinions such a vacation. Almost all whites in the west – 87 percent — say they like the idea of trip to the mountains.

Older adults are the least apt to have strongly positive views about going to the beach.

Household income provides another clear break. More than six in 10 of those with family incomes of at least $100,000 express favorable views of both the beach and the mountains, compared with just over four in 10 of those taking in under $50,000 a year.

For our part, we are beach people. Mountains require effort, which the Fix does not like to expend when vacationing.