Now, I might not have John King’s (from CNN) fancy interactive electoral map, but I thought it might be fun here on Thanksgiving Eve to look at the polls focused on the holiday’s feast and activities that I put up last week.
First-off – turnout was great! A 50% increase (or more) over any previous poll here. Clearly, people have strong opinions about Thanksgiving.
For the question about what part of the meal is their favorite, stuffing eked out a narrow victory over sweet potatoes and the bird itself. Also, demographically, stuffing RULES the Northeast, with sweet potatoes and turkey better represented once you get out of that region.
Taken together, there was a huge majority for side dishes (68.8%) over the turkey or desserts (which together came in at <10% — maybe folks are too full by the time they get to dessert).
Coming up short on the table was long-time staple mashed potatoes, with one lone vote (from SLO-town – cough cough).
Looking at the broader holiday, getting together with friends and family was the easy winner, getting 40% of the vote (which is interesting because we're doing neither, opting for a 2-person feast The Aerie…). Having a 4day weekend was next and the feast itself pulled up 3rd.
Interestingly, there were no votes for commonly-associated-Thanksgiving activities of watching football and Christmas shopping. And apparently, the Bluegrass State of Kentucky is where folks love that post-feast-coma. Also curious — two more people voted in the feast question than the holiday question.
Thanks for your participation — that was fun!
Stevil 
This is awesome!
Steve, you totally made my afternoon with this post. :))BTW, I voted for sweet potatoes. I'm surprised to see it ranked in the top three!
[this is great]. Btw, if you're ever interested in analyzing my web stats, I've got a job for you. ;-) Happy Thanksgiving!
I didn't vote. Crap.
And what is this "stuffing" you speak of? (We call it dressing down here…)
Also, my favorite thing about Thanksgiving besides the family (that I see all the time anyway, since 90% of my family lives within 15 miles of each other) is the Texas-Texas A&M game. :)
Hahaaaa! I see that having a 4 day weekend came in a razor thin second to seeing family over the holiday. I'm sure time factors into time with loved ones, though. I still can't believe mashed got such a cold response. Loved that cranberry did so well.
My waistline is definetly reflecting that Northeast love of stuffing.
Beautifully done on this poll, way more fun than some stuffed shirt at CNN.
Those charts absolutely made my Thanksgiving. I'd like to add another category for the second poll: "Laughing at Steve's Breakdown of Thanksgiving Stuff."
So then – is the stuffing not in the turkey then?? Does it come as its own dish. And don't you have baked potatoes?
Impressive. Your analysis could even go in a grant, so scientific looking. However, I do not see any error bars… with an N= 30 or 32 things could change.
I'm happy to spread a little holiday love… sweet potatoes used to be my favorite, but in the last several years I've switched to cranberries…
Thanks Hapa! 20 years of looking for trends in data finally pays off! Happy Thanksgiving to you and the Honey… :)
Hah — I wondered after I posted whether I should have made it "stuffing/dressing"… I think you can still vote — I think I set the poll up to close tomorrow morning… :)
Hah — thanks Ellie — I've become a real cranberry favor-er the last couple of years…:)
I have to say that I've really grown to like how easy these polls are to do… Happy Thanksgiving!
cat — I think to be more correct — "stuffing" goes in the bird, while "dressing" goes in its own casserole dish. These days though, I think they're pretty interchangeable. Interestingly, I've never heard of anyone making baked potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner (though they are popular other times…)Is there an analogous holiday in Australia?
Thanks… :) I hate writing grants, though… ;) I guess you'd have to estimate a "margin of error" — though I'm not sure for polling how that's done…
I so love you for this post.
However, stuffing is still gross.
no – we don't have anything like it at all – and it seems way too close to christmas!
Thanksgiving food…yummy. Sorry I missed your poll. For me, turkey, cornbread stuffing, and desserts rule. Pumpkin pie, Chess pie. Sugar is my friend. I hope you and yours have a good one. We will not be with family, unless you count that we are mother and son. But we will have a good one none-the-less.
I wonder if football would've gotten some votes if the games were ever being played by anyone interesting (in the NFL anyway). Detroit? Dallas? Who cares, really? (Only if they're playing the Vikings which happens about once every 25 years…or in your case if D plays the Eagles.)
Fun post!
This was an awesome post. It would've been better if I hadn't missed out on the poll. I do so love giving my opinion. :-)
Thanks Hannah! Just trying to spread a little nerd love for the holiday… :D
What could be more "family" than that?!? :D