At Engage, we have long preached the gospel of social data as the new polling. A Facebook app called Wisdom is demonstrating what that actually means, building detailed demographic profiles on 3.8 million Facebook users and breaking down their page likes. This data is particularly interesting in light of the current Presidential election, where the rivaling tastes of supporters of President Barack Obama and the Republican candidates can tell you a lot about the nation’s cultural divide.

Earlier this evening on Twitter, I broke down the top 10 non-political page likes for supporters of each of the Presidential candidates as reported by Wisdom. To say the least, the results are revealing.

Barack Obama

1. Michael Jackson
2. Facebook
3. YouTube
4. Family Guy
5. Bob Marley
6. Lady Gaga
7. Starbucks
8. Eminem
9. Will Smith
10. Rihanna

Mitt Romney

1. Facebook
2. The Bible
3. Starbucks
4. The Beatles
5. Small Business Saturday
6. Walmart
7. Johnny Cash
8. House
9. Adam Sandler
10. YouTube

Ron Paul

1. The Beatles
2. Family Guy
3. Johnny Cash
4. Pink Floyd
5. South Park
6. Bob Marley
7. The Office
8. Facebook
9. The Daily Show
10. History

Jon Huntsman

1. The Daily Show
2. NPR
3. The Office
4. The Beatles
5. Facebook
6. Starbucks
7. The Colbert Report
8. Johnny Cash
9. Family Guy
10. The Onion

Rick Santorum

1. The Bible
2. Facebook
3. History
4. Jesus Daily
5. Starbucks
6. Dave Ramsey
7. Small Business Saturday
8. Chick-fil-A
9. Jon Voight
10. Capitalism

Newt Gingrich

1. The Bible
2. Facebook
3. History
4. Starbucks
5. The Beatles
6. Dave Ramsey
7. Small Business Saturday
8. Jesus Daily
9. Chick-fil-A
10. Jesus Christ

Rick Perry

1. The Bible
2. Starbucks
3. Facebook
4. Johnny Cash
5. Chick-fil-A
6. History
7. Jesus Daily
8. Dallas Cowboys
9. George Strait
10. Dave Ramsey

The Analysis

• If the list for Barack Obama and the rest of the GOP field doesn’t scream “cultural divide!” I don’t know what does. Regardless of the outcome of the Republican primary, 2012 is shaping up as a choice between Eminem and Johnny Cash, or Lady Gaga and The Beatles.
• Ron Paul supporters show nearly as much overlap with the cultural preferences of Obama supporters as they do with supporters of Mitt Romney and the other Republican candidates. Ron Paul is the candidate of Pink Floyd, which makes its only appearance on Ron Paul supporters’ top 10. Alone with Jon Huntsman fans, Ron Paul supporters also like watching The Office.
• Fans of Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Perry all have very similar tastes — with Jesus Daily, Chick-fil-A, the Bible, Dave Ramsey, History, and Facebook overlapping all three lists. These also appeared well down their lists, with conservative politicians, organizations, and media figures dominating likes among fans of these candidates. This probably speaks to the fact that, at least among Facebook users, these candidates remain popular primarily among political early adopters.
• As the Republican candidate with the most Facebook likes, Romney supporters’ tastes are more likely to veer into the realm of popular culture, albeit an older version of it where Johnny Cash and The Beatles rule.
• Huntsman supporter tastes spell eclectic. From fans of NPR to the Daily Show to The Economist, Huntsman appeals to a very unique brand of Republican relative to the field.