As the election draws near, we can all prepare for endless analysis of how different slices of the population —millenials, Asian Americans, hockey moms, etc. — are going to vote in the 2016 election. But have you ever wondered about how the video gamer vote is going to fall?
The ESA worked with the market research company Ipsos to survey more than 4,100 adults, via a professional online survey that defined a "gamer" as someone who plays games at least 3-4 hours per week. The survey was conducted between Sept. 17 and Oct. 5, 2015, and was designed to mirror polls from other firms that look at the political views of slices of the population.
A previous ESA study found that at least 114 million people in the United States fit the survey's definition of a gamer, Gallagher said. This new poll found that eighty percent of gamers said they will vote in the 2016 election — in line with the seventy-nine percent reported voting in 2012.
"Previous elections had soccer moms and NASCAR Dads," said Mike Gallagher, the ESA of the Entertainment Software Association. "The gamer vote could very easily be one of those constituencies. 100 million are going to the polls in a year; that’s a powerful constituency to be speaking with."
In terms of top takeaways, however, the most surprising for many may be that gamers aren't really a bloc at all. The survey runs contrary to pervasive stereotypes out there about how there's a very specific type of person who plays games — basement-dwelling, antisocial, reactionary, etc. Those, in turn, are often reinforced by stories about violence in video games or the horrific harassment of women in the industry.
But the data show that the video game community is a bigger tent than many people may realize — expanding on previous data from the ESA that found 44 percent of gamers are women and three-quarters are over the age of 18.
In terms of political ideology, gamers are pretty split. In broad strokes, 38 percent of gamers identify as "Liberal" and 48 percent as "Conservative." When it comes to party identification, gamers are even more divided: 38 percent say they're Democrats, while 28 percent say they're Republicans. Nearly a quarter of gamers, 24 percent, say they're independents; 10 percent identified as "strong Tea Party."
That nearly 50-50 split continues with other issues, such as whether diplomacy or military force should be the driving philosophy of U.S. foreign policy. When asked whether they were better off than they were eight years ago, 41 percent said they were better off, 35 percent said they were worse off and 24 percent were unsure.
But gamers are united on other issues. For example, 61 percent said that the distribution of wealth in this country should be more even. More than half agree that human activity contributes to global warming in some way. Overall, gamers say that the most important issues to them are the economy, the threat of terrorism and unemployment — issues that come up at the dinner tables of gamers and non-gamers alike.
So now that we know more about gamers and their political leanings, what do we do with that information? Gallagher says that he hopes this study sparks more conversation about how gamers fit into the broader electorate. And, he said, he hopes it prompts politicians to use the interactive medium to reach voters by way of a passion that the political machine may not realize so many people have.
"We hope this will be an 'a-ha' moment for those who have not been aware of the growth of gaming," Gallagher said. "Look to your left and look to your right — everyone’s a gamer."