TV's Two Parties: Republicans Hate 'Dexter,' Democrats Hate Ghosts

It's no secret that liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans differ greatly in their political views (that's kind of the point, isn't it?). But a new poll suggests that a person's political leanings might also mean they're likely to watch an entirely different set of TV shows!

The poll, conducted by Experian-Simmons and covered by EW, reveals which shows are listed as "favorites" and "least favorites" by self-proclaimed liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans.

The data is unsurprising at times, revealing that liberals love "30 Rock" (duh) and conservatives love "Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy" (also duh).

But there are some points where the data gets really interesting. For example, conservatives by and large listed "Dexter" as one of their least favorite shows. In fact, most shows with a morally ambiguous antihero (a big trend in TV nowadays) did not do well with Republicans: "Weeds" was also listed as a disliked show. There was no data on "Breaking Bad," but you can probably throw that one in there too.

As for the liberal dislikes, a large number of respondants listed "Swamp Loggers" as one of their least favorites. I haven't watched the show, but for the response to be that big, the stars of the reality program must be sharing their conservative-leaning political views quite a bit. Not sure how that ties in to logging in swamps.

Liberal Democrats also tend to dislike any show with ghosts in it: "Ghost Hunters" and "Ghost Adventures" were among the shows listed. An educated guess here would be that most skeptics and scientists lean to the liberal side (away from the often-religious right) and are the types to think that ghosts are a bunch of hooey. On that point, though, "MythBusters" was listed as a favorite for conservatives and not for liberals, and that show is the epitome of skeptical. Odd.

A couple of dislikes were downright puzzling: conservatives tend to dislike "The Walking Dead" (how could you possibly?!) and liberals tend to dislike "The Price is Right" and "Kitchen Nightmares." Huh?

On the whole, I'd have to say that liberals have better taste in shows: with their likes including "Parks and Recreation," "Modern Family" and "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," their taste for comedy is pretty solid. Conservatives have much more reality shows on their list of faves, including "The Bachelor," "The Biggest Loser," "Pawn Stars" and the aforementioned "Only In America," but also including the very cool "MythBusters" and "Man vs. Wild."

And come on, who doesn't like "Dexter," huh? He only kills bad guys! Usually...

Of course, my own political leanings could be informing that opinion. That's right: I watch "The Daily Show."

Check out the full list over at EW.