Poll finds smartphone owners largely support Obama

The race is neck-and-neck, but Obama has a nearly 20% lead among smartphone owners

Are smartphone owners just a little more left-leaning then their non-smartphone-owning brethren?  They may be, according to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of mobile ad and marketing technology provider, Velti.  When asked who they would vote for if the presidential election were held today, 49% of smartphone owners (specifically those who own an iPhone or Android) said they would vote for Barack Obama, while 31% said they would vote for Mitt Romney.  You can check out the infographic here.

That’s a pretty dramatic gap when you compare it to the latest Gallup poll, where Obama and Romney are virtually neck-and-neck.  Currently, 47% of registered voters say they support Obama, while 45% say they support Romney, but the numbers are so close that it practically flipflops every weekend.

Velti’s survey polled more than 2,100 adults online, some 800 of whom said they owned an iPhone or an Android device.  Notably, RIM was not included in the survey (I feel that if it was, it might’ve shaken up the results a bit, since Blackberries have traditionally found their niche among the business community, which tends to swing right).  Nor was Windows included in the survey.

When voters’ choice of device was taken into account, the Velti poll found that Obama supporters are split pretty evenly, with 47% saying they own an iPhone and 50% owning an Android.  Among Romney supporters, there was more of a gap, with 34% owning iPhones and 29% owning Androids.  

The support for Obama translated across a number of different demographics within the smartphone community, including those with a college degree (56% would vote for Obama, compared to 35% who support Romney), and those earning more than $75,000 a year (49% and 39% respectively).

Romney may be sensing his lagging numbers among smartphone owners, as it was announced last month that he would be taking his campaign to iOS via Apple’s iAd service.  He will be the first politician to use the service since it was first introduced in 2010.

Interestingly, other surveys, like one conducted by Hunch in August 2011, found that iPhone owners were 17% more likely to be politically liberal while Android owners are 20% more likely to be politically conservative.

Other findings from the survey show that younger smartphone owners are more likely to support Barack Obama than older smartphone owners.  Among men, 54% of those between the ages of 18 and 34 said they would vote for Obama, compared to 34% of those between 35 and 44.  Among women, fully 60% of those age 18-34 said they would vote for Obama, compared to 39% of those age 45 and up.  Additionally, 59% of single smartphone owners said they support Obama, compared to 43% of married smartphone owners.