Grateful Dead fans at the band’s 50th anniversary tour in Chicago this weekend. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
What do you get when you cross with the firm s?
A poll that finds perception of the band lacks the kind of “significant partisan divides we have seen for most cultural phenomenon in American life — from French fries to rainbow flags,” according to Public ap Strategies’ . (She did polling for the late Rocky Mountain News.)
Republicans give the band a 32% favorable/15% unfavorable rating, close to that among independents (26% favorable, 9% unfavorable), and Democrats (31% favorable/6% unfavorable).
“With that level of positive regard, don’t be surprised if you hear ‘Truckin'” coming from a GOP candidate’s campaign bus at their next stop in Iowa or New Hampshire,” she wrote about the poll’s findings.
The poll was conducted in June with the Mellman Group measuring the band’s image among all Americans announced its its “Fare Thee Well” tour after 50 years. The band’s final three shows are this weekend in Chicago.
Among the findings:
Four in five Americans (79%) have heard of the Grateful Dead, and two-in-five (39%) know them well enough to have formed an impression of them.
The band is better known among the GOP (46% than among Democrats (37%) or independents (35%).
Overall, 29% of Americans have a positive impression of the Dead and 10% an unfavorable one.
Weigel highlighted the lyrics from the song “Throwing Stones:” “So the kids, they dance, they shake their bones / And the politicians throwing stones…”
This undated photo shows Grateful Dead band members, from left, Mickey Hart, Phil Lesh, Jerry Garcia, Brent Mydland, Bill Kreutzmann, and Bob Weir. The Grateful Dead is closing the lid on its storied half-century of concerts. Soldier Field, which was the last place legendary guitarist Jerry Garcia played with the band before his death in 1995, is hosting the final three shows this weekend. (AP Photo/File)
