Why Pizza Was The Key To Presidential Candidates’ Success In Iowa
Although you’d think there’s no way the amount of pizza purchased by candidates during an election could correlate to votes, the results of the Iowa caucus prove there just might be something there.
A genius at Gawker took the time to track how much money each presidential candidate spent on pizza, while campaigning around the nation, between April and September 2015. While observing those stats, we found some pretty eerie parallels to each candidate’s success.
With the results of the Iowa Caucus in, it’s interesting to compare each candidate’s pizza expenditures with the final results of the Iowa Caucus. What’s more interesting, there seems to be a bit of an indirect correlation between the amount of money spent on pizza and how well each candidate did with voters.
Here’s how the pizza spending breaks down:
PIZZA WORKED FOR HILLARY
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Hillary Clinton spent more than $9,000 on pizza, by far the most amount out of all 11 candidates. Clinton managed 49.9 percent of votes, as she pulled out a narrow victory against her competitor, Bernie Sanders.
But, despite spending about $3,000 less than Clinton, on pizza, Sanders still managed to accumulate 49.6 percent of the Iowan vote. It seems pizza didn’t matter to the Dems as much, and they were just, “#FeelingtheBern.”
Republicans And Pizza
On the Republican side, we see stark correlations. After comparing Donald Trump’s pizza expenditures to Ted Cruz’s; Cruz outspent Trump by nearly $1,300 on pizza.
Is it more than a coincidence, then, that Cruz emerged victorious with 27.6 percent of votes, compared to Trump’s 24.3?
Maybe Trump should have been a little more generous with his pizza spending.
The Iowa results show a clear outlier; Carly Fiorina.
Ms. Fiorina’s campaign expenditures accounted for less than $2.00, on pizza. Actually, zero. With that said, it is ironic, that she received only 1.9 percent of the Iowa vote. Should she have stopped somewhere for at least a slice? A decision sure to keep members of the Fiorina camp up at night.
EVERYONE ELSE
To ensure there’s no bias against any candidate, here’s the list of candidates, with the total spent on pizza and the results of the Iowa Caucus, in alphabetical order. We’ve also included links to each candidate’s Federal Election Commission page to show the actual transactions.
Jeb Bush (R)
Jeb Bush campaign spent a total of $3,583.29 on pizza. Here’s a receipt for $950.00 from Pizza Ranch, filed with the Federal Election Commission.
Total percentage of votes in Iowa: 2.8
Ben Carson (R)
Ben Carson’s campaign spent a total of $3,707.33 on pizza, according to Gawker. We wanted to feature an actual receipt, but Mr. Carson’s Federal Election Commission page did not include pizza purchases in campaign expenditures.
Total percentage of votes in Iowa: 9.3
Chris Christie (R)
Chris Christie’s campaign spent a total of $1,527.24 on pizza. Here’s a $378 receipt for Grand Slam Pizza, filed with the Federal Election Commission.
Total percentage of votes in Iowa: 1.8
Hillary Clinton (D)
Hillary Clinton’s campaign spent a total of $9,046.38 on pizza. Here’s a $1,251.26 receipt from Need Pizzeria, filed with the FEC.
Total percentage of votes in Iowa: 49.9, winner
Ted Cruz (R)
Ted Cruz’s campaign spent a total of $2,481.45 on pizza. Here’s a receipt Mr. Cruz’s campaign filed with the FEC for $179.34 at We The Pizza.
Total percentage of votes in Iowa: 27.6, winner
Carly Fiorina (R)
Carly Fiorina’s campaign spent a total of $0.00 on pizza. Sadly, there’s no Pizza receipts from Carly. But here’s her Federal Election Commission page, where her campaign expenditures can be viewed.
Total percentage of votes in Iowa: 1.9
John Kasich (R)
John Katich’s campaign spent a total of $69.18 on pizza. Here’s his solitary pizza receipt from Donato’s Pizza, filed with the FEC.
Total percentage of votes in Iowa: 1.9
Rand Paul (R)
Rand Paul’s campaign spent a total of $2,185.48 on pizza. Mr. Rand’s FEC page did not include pizza expenses in campaign expenditures.
Total percentage of votes in Iowa: 4.5
Marco Rubio (R)
Marco Rubio’s campaign spent a total of $293.21 on pizza. Here’s a receipt from Caesario’s Pizzeria for a total of $148.09, filed with the FEC.
Total percentage of votes in Iowa: 23.1
Bernie Sanders (D)
Bernie Sander’s campaign spent a total of $3,354.76 on pizza. Here’s a receipt from Lenardo’s Pizza, for $85.25, filed with the FEC.
Total percentage of votes in Iowa: 49.6
Donald Trump (R)
Donald Trump’s campaign spent a total of $1,233.64 on pizza. Here’s a receipt for $663.33 for Vinny’s Italian Grill and Pizzeria, filed with the FEC.
Total percentage of votes in Iowa: 24.3
It just goes to show that pizza can take you a long way. Maybe all the way to the White House.
