Survey Results from "Religious Views & Reality TV"

The results are in!

Last Wednesday, I posted an entry called "Religious Views & Reality TV", which had an optional survey for readers that asked them questions about if and how their votes are swayed by a contestant's religious views on reality television programs like Dancing with the Stars and American Idol.  Thank you so much to the nine people who voted!  I love having your participation!  Here are the standings:

My hypothesis was that 1) most voters would be swayed in their votes, 2) mostly influenced by a contestant with a different religion than their own, 3) with most of the voters affiliated with Christianity.  The second part of my hypothesis was that the voters with a religious affiliation of Christianity would be the most likely to have their votes influenced by a contestant's religious viewpoints.  Obviously, I was slightly off in my prediction:  a majority 56% indicated their vote wouldn't be influenced either way by a contestant's religious views. 

Maybe I analyzed reality TV, which is for shear entertainment, too much like I would the political arena, a more serious context for this discussion; in which case, I think my hypothesis would hold up.  A few questions remain for reality TV, however:  what things are voters swayed by; what things should voters be swayed by, and which things shouldn't influence voters?  When voting for contestants on programs like Dancing with the Stars and American Idol, I would think that people are likely more drawn to vote for the contestant in which they have things in common like which State they're from or where they went to college.  Even factors such as dress, appearance, and demeanor influence votes for reality TV (at least I will admit to voting based upon some of those factors, and have been tempted to watch American Idol with my eyes closed to try and simply base my vote on the sound of the performance).  Let's not forget the votes made based upon the skill and performance of the dancing and singing itself, the whole purpose of the competitions.  Based upon my own voting history, there is also the occasional voter that submits a pity vote for the contestant who's not doing so well but begs not to leave the show.  Furthermore, according to this small survey, 22% of viewers say their votes are swayed by a contestant's religious affiliation. 

I think saying that people approach voting for a national election more responsibly than voting for reality TV programs is safe to say, right?  It is rather fascinating though:  while we're looking at factors that influence votes for reality TV contestants, some of those same factors have impacted national elections:  i.e. appearance--I remember reading in history class that John F. Kennedy received significant number of votes from women based upon his appearance; and demeanor--I'm going to respectfully not broach this factor!

So lest I continue to ramble, which I probably have already done, I'd love to hear your thoughts about the results from the survey.  Did they surprise you?  Not surprise you?  What do you think about the factors that influence voting for reality TV programs?  Should they affect the votes?  What about those same factors influencing national elections? 

I don't know about you, but I'm gonna enjoy watching both shows tonight!!