As we await the final results of the 2020 presidential election, the results of one of the biggest races on Tuesday are about to be revealed: the food we ate on election night. If election night food trends are any indication, we turn to cocktails and comfort food when we're in trouble. Democracy may fail us, but wine and cheese will never.
On election night 2016, MarketWatch reported that food delivery apps Grubhub, Caviar and DoorDash saw huge sales spikes, with people ordering more booze and comfort food than on a typical Tuesday night. When times get tough financially, we obviously turn to wine, cupcakes, pizza, and tacos.
This year is no exception. On Tuesday, sales on alcohol delivery app Drizly were up 67.66% compared to the previous four Tuesday averages, according to an email report shared with Bustle. Google Trends also reported record highs in searches for “chips near me” and “liquor stores near me.” If you found yourself drowning in chips and dip, anxiously drinking cabbage, or frantically searching for chips on Tuesday, rest assured you're not alone.
Fast comfort food
According to Google Trends, four of the top five most searched foods on election night 2020 were fast food for some form of comfort. Pizza topped the list, with Chinese, sushi and Mexican dishes all making the top five popular food searches on Tuesday. Grubhub's most popular election night food isn't far behind. According to a Grubhub report shared with Bustle, eight of the top 10 foods ordered on Election Day were cheesy, fried, or both.
French fries, chicken strips, cheeseburgers, chicken tacos and fried chicken sandwiches rounded out the top five most ordered foods on Tuesday. Mozzarella sticks, mac and cheese, buffalo wings and nachos also made the list. However, there was one food item that people ordered far more on DoorDash than the previous Tuesday: margherita bread. According to a report shared by Bustle, the food delivery app has seen an 825% increase in pizza-related food orders.
Grubhub's data further confirms the country's love for all things carby, cheesy and comforting on election night. Five of the 10 most popular orders on Election Day are some form of pizza. Soppressata piccante pizza topped the list with 202% order growth.
Across the United States, people are turning to favorite regional favorites to get through Tuesday. In the Midwest, DoorDash saw a huge increase in orders for biscuits, gravy and garlic cheese bread. Northeasterners stuck to their favorites, ordering buffalo chicken pizza and cream cheese bagels on the app. In true Southern style, a mix of sweet and savory items topped the list of most popular Southern orders, with sales of Honey Chicken Biscuits and Banana Pudding increasing significantly. The only outlier seems to be the West, where the product with a 307% increase in orders is... cucumber salad. Oh, California, Portland, etc., what cheesy potato casserole hurts you?
Desserts all day
We balanced out the cheesy fried dinner with a hearty dessert. On DoorDash, cinnamon rolls, apple pie, chocolate milkshakes, hot fudge sundaes and strawberry milkshakes were among the 20 most popular items on election night. On DoorDash, Nutella pizza ranked second with a 192% increase in orders. However, tiramisu seems to be the dessert of choice for many, with the Italian dessert enjoying a popularity rating of 181% Dinner time compared to other times of the day.
How do we stay awake despite stress, sweet and salty foods? Why, of course, lots of caffeine. GrubHub saw a 201% surge in cold brew coffee orders and a 168% increase in chai latte orders during Tuesday's election lunch hour. Of course, coffee isn’t most people’s main beverage of choice on Tuesday…
reds and whites in blue states
If there's one thing that unites us on Tuesday, it's that we are a nation of wine moms. More than 42% of Drizly's election night sales were wine, which was a slight increase from Tuesday's average sales. Our collective wine weapon of choice? Any and all red. This is somewhat unsurprising, as Americans generally prefer red wine to white wine. But sipping wine while watching CNN's John King break down the election results in real time felt particularly appropriate for 2020.
According to Drizly's report, orders for white wine are actually lower than usual. Sales of rosé wine also declined, rising by just 0.61%, although sales of Champagne and sparkling wine increased. Apparently, we didn't drink rosé all Election Day and had no reason to celebrate with champagne.
Perhaps surprising to no one, Drizly sales are up across the country. However, our beverage choices vary depending on where we live. While red states like Wyoming, Idaho, Missouri and Tennessee saw alcohol sales 33% higher than average, blue states saw a 75% jump in sales. Hey California, Oregon, Illinois, New York, Washington, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Vermont, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., how are you doing with your Wednesday morning hangover? As we wrap up the week, are you still feeling that way?
Drizly sales also increased 54% in swing states such as Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. While battleground and red states seem to favor hard liquor, blue states are into hard liquor. In fact, 45.34% of sales in blue states were wine, giving Tuesday wine sales a 1.37% increase over average.
Regardless of the outcome of the 2020 election, one thing is for sure: wine and cheese was the clear winner on Tuesday night.
