There already have been multiple presidential candidate debates featuring Jeb Bush, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. If Americans’ vehicle choices are an indication of political preferences, then the majority of swing states will vote for a Republican candidate, according to a PureCars analysis of sales by color and body.

CPO Forum participant PureCars, a provider of dealership digital ad platforms, examined sales data for a 90-day period to better understand body and color shopper preferences by state. The analysis showed that all traditional swing states buy more red cars than blue, with New Hampshire as the only exception.

Although the data may not directly correlate to votes in 2016, PureCars explained that it demonstrates the granular level of insight dealers need to recognize local preferences and successfully move inventory.

“It’s surprising to see what American stereotypes didn’t hold against our analysis,” said Jeremy Anspach, chief executive officer and co-founder of PureCars and one of the experts set to be on hand for the CPO Forum at Used Car Week.

 “For instance, most would think California would be crazy for convertibles and Texas for trucks, but it isn’t the case,” Anspach continued. “While every dealer makes assumptions about their customers, our data proves those assumptions should not be used to market to them. Instead, dealers should leverage real data from their market to drive their online strategy.”

Additional findings from the study include the following listed by PureCars:

— Hatchbacks are most popular in more liberal states like Washington state (16 percent of sales), Rhode Island (11 percent) and California (10 percent).

—Vermont is the top state for trucks, which account for 69 percent of sales.

— New Hampshire sells the most convertibles, which account for 12 percent of statewide sales.

PureCars mentioned that 74 percent of all vehicles sold in the U.S. are neutral colors (black, white or grey), with grey/silver being the most popular at 29 percent.

These data points may only be fun facts to the general consumer, but they also show how substantially shopper tastes can vary by location. PureCars said dealers have an opportunity to improve the overall car shopping process by tailoring their ad messaging based on consumers’ preferences for a more relevant experience.

“Today’s car shoppers begin their path to purchase with extensive online research and consideration periods before they even set foot on the lot,” Anspach said.

“A deeper understanding of their preferences and tastes is critical for dealers trying to win an increasingly competitive sale,” he continued. “With a programmatic approach, dealerships don’t waste their valuable and often small marketing budgets targeting customers who are not ready to make a purchase.”

To conduct its analysis, PureCars used its proprietary platform to pull historical data on car sales from June 1 to Sept. 1. Using predefined vehicle color categories, PureCars then tallied the number and relative percentage of each color sold in each state.

Complete data for the PureCars vehicle body and color by state analysis can be found at www.purecars.com/election.

Next month, Anspach might revisit the survey findings when he makes his presentation titled “Is Your VDP Hurting Your SEM?” His session will provide dealers with the latest digital innovations to improve search performance and increase VDP views.

The CPO Forum begins on Nov. 16 to kick off Used Car Week at the Phoenician in Scottsdale, Ariz. The complete agenda can be found here.

Are you a dealer or manager who’s interested in attending the CPO Forum? Contact Used Car Week chairman Bill Zadeits directly at bzadeits@autoremarketing.com as he has a few free VIP passes provided by Used Car Week sponsors for dealers and managers.

“If interested, please let me know. These VIP passes are limited and will be awarded on a first-come basis,” Zadeits said.