Experian–Simmons apparently “measures the consumer preference of various political ideologies,” including their TV watching, according to Entertainment Weekly.

EW reports that “sarcastic media-savvy comedies and morally murky antiheroes tend to draw Dems. While serious work-centered shows (both reality shows and stylized scripted procedurals), along with reality competitions, tend to draw conservatives.”

First, the shows those who identify most strongly as being a “Liberal Democrat” watch (with EW’s comments in italics):

– The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report (Comedy Central): As you might expect.
– 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation (NBC): Literate media-savvy comedies score high among Dems in general, notes Experian-Simmons senior marketing manager John Fetto. “Sarcastic humor is always a hook for them,” he adds.
– The View (ABC): Shows that skew female tend to do better among Dems, while male-friendly shows tend to do perform higher among Republicans.
– Glee (Fox)
– Modern Family (ABC): Last year, the progressive Glee and Modern Family scored surprisingly strong among both political leanings. Among conservatives this year, the shows still do fairly well, but have dropped out of their top ranks.
– It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX)
– Treme (HBO): GOP Kryptonite. Not only a Dem favorite, but so unpopular among Republicans that the report scores the show with a “*”  because not enough conservatives in the study group had actually watched it.
– Cougar Town (ABC)
– The Late Show With David Letterman and The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson (CBS): Dems favor late-night programming, with one big exception that we’ll see below.

Also in the mix: The Soup (E!), Aqua Teen Hunger Force (Adult Swim), Raising Hope (Fox), Saturday Night Live (NBC), The Office (NBC), Project Runway (Lifetime), Shameless (Showtime), Parenthood (NBC), Conan (TBS).

Nothing on this list is particularly surprising. I don’t watch “30 Rock” because every time I see Alec Baldwin, I want to punch him out. There was a hilarious tweet about “The View” last month that I can’t really repeat here (it involved male genitals and cinder blocks). We can’t watch “Glee” because its subject matter makes it unwatchable for young families, even though Fox puts it on at 7 p.m. Letterman’s increasingly one-sided political observations have turned me off, but then again he was funnier on NBC.

Now the “conservative Republican” list:

– Swamp Loggers (Discovery) and Top Shot (History): Gritty documentary-style work-related reality shows on cable index really strongly with conservative Republicans. Swamp Loggers is particularly polarizing.
– The Bachelor (ABC): They also tend to gravitate toward broadcast reality competition shows.
– Castle (ABC): Ranks fairly high among Dems, too.
– Mythbusters (Discovery)
– Only in America With Larry the Cable Guy, American Pickers, Pawn Stars, Swamp People (History): If you’re a Republican candidate looking to raise money, put ads on History.
– The Middle (ABC): Does well among libs, too.
– The Tonight Show With Jay Leno (NBC): “Did you hear about this? Yeah, this is true: Jay Leno is the late-night choice among conservatives… “
– The Biggest Loser (NBC)
– Hawaii Five-O, NCIS, The Mentalist (CBS): Popular crime dramas — except the left-wing Law & Order franchise — tend to draw a conservative crowd.

Also: Dancing With the Stars results show (ABC), Man vs. Wild (Discovery), Auction Kings (Discovery), Wheel of Fortune (syndi), Top Gear (BBC America).

One irony of this list is that “Castle” plays opposite “Hawaii Five-0,” which I guess demonstrates how many homes now have DVRs. One shouldn’t be surprised that cop shows are popular with Republicans. In fact, National Review recently commented on “Castle”:

You might think some on the Right might flinch at a show that begins just about every episode with a grisly murder, and the investigation often has the protagonists taking a short tour though some strange subcultures — S&M aficionados, people who like to pretend they’re vampires, soap-opera fans, rival New York pizzerias. On the other hand, the show depicts police detectives as honorable and dedicated. Criminals are rarely misunderstood victims of society but almost always greedy or unstable and undoubtedly belong behind bars. In short, the good guys are the good guys, and the bad guys are the bad guys. The cops rarely if ever enter dark anti-hero territory or bend the law (though occasionally they’ll ignore procedure) and almost every episode is self-contained: A criminal commits a murder with seemingly ingenious methods to escape detection, and the hard-charging detectives and their novelist sidekick pick through all of the evidence and chase down every lead until they get their man. Thankfully, the criminals aren’t always the predictable “the rich old white Republican did it” cliché that marked so many Law & Order episodes (sorry, Senator Thompson) though Castle has conformed to the ironclad Hollywood rule that if Ray Wise is in a television or film and a murder occurs, he did it.

I am rather surprised that reality shows are popular with Republicans because the term “reality show” is an oxymoron.

Now for the opposite lists — which shows would Democrats and Republicans not be caught dead watching? First, Democrats:

– Swamp Loggers (Discovery): What are they doing on this show, feeding Nancy Pelosi to alligators? [If they did, maybe I’d watch.]
– Dog the Bounty Hunter (A&E) and COPS (syndication): “Question authority.”
– The Ultimate Fighter (Spike TV): Conservatives can make their own “cut and run” jokes…
– The Price Is Right (CBS): Annnnd a budget-crisis joke.
– CSI: Miami (CBS)
– Kitchen Nightmares (Fox): Odd. Who doesn’t like a clean kitchen?
– Secret Life of the American Teenager (ABC Family): Not popular among stalwart Republicans either.
– Ghost Hunters (Syfy), Ghost Adventures (Travel Channel) and The Haunted (Animal Planet): Libs don’t believe in an afterlife? Or just don’t believe in shaky night-vision reality shows that claim to prove an afterlife?

Also: Operation Repo (TruTV), Swamp People (History), Hardcore Pawn (TruTV), River Monsters (Animal Planet), Deadliest Catch (Discovery), Only in America With Larry the Cable Guy (History), Storm Chasers (Discovery), Billy the Exterminator (A&E), Deal or No Deal (GSN), Forensic Files (TruTV), Dirty Jobs (Discovery).

Now, Republicans:

– Weeds (Showtime): Female-centered drama, lots of drug use and a morally murky antiherohelp make this show the lowest-ranked series among righties.
– The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report (Comedy Central): But not disliked equally. Republicans prefer Colbert between the two (maybe some pretend he’s being serious).
– South Park (Comedy Central): Aww, South Park is an equal opportunity offender! But, again, media-darling sarcastic comedies tend to be a turn-off.
– TMZ (syndication)
– General Hospital (ABC)
– Family Guy (Fox)
– Dexter (Showtime): Again, that antihero thing…
– Jersey Shore (MTV)
– The Walking Dead (AMC): Really? But it’s about the Apocalypse!

Also: Divorce Court (syndi), The Big C (Showtime), Let’s Make a Deal (CBS), Bridezillas (WE), My Fair Wedding With David Tutera (WE), Don’t Forget the Lyrics (VH1).

A few no-shows on the Republican list surprise me. “South Park” is actually quite libertarian, and the biggest targets seem to me to be PC liberals. “TMZ” is all about pop culture, but by showing celebrities in their unguarded states, it should make viewers think twice when Baldwin makes another airheaded political statement. “Dexter,” for those who haven’t seen it, is about a serial killer who murders criminals. Remembering that the show is fiction, how can conservatives be against such savings of taxpayer dollars?

As for “Jersey Shore,” the first and until now only person I have de-Friended on Facebook is a huge fan of “Jersey Shore,” which tells you everything you need to know about my ex-Friend. And I would rather stick forks in my eyeballs than watch “Bridezillas.” In fact, given the artifice of all reality TV (including my wife’s and kids’ favorite, “The Amazing Race”), it can be said that the popularity of reality TV is a sign of the Apocalypse.