ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT
Comfort food: Alcohol, fast food sales soar on election night
Nov 5, 2020, 2:50 PM | Updated: 3:38 pm
(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
It was an election like no other. And three days later, it’s still not over.
The 2020 presidential election was set to be unlike its predecessors. With the country reporting record COVID-19 numbers and a surge in mail-in ballots, it was expected it would take days — maybe weeks — before races were called.
Naturally, Americans turned to comfort food to cope with the uncertainty.
Alcohol sales soar on election night
During the course of election night, alcohol sales soared across the state. Blue states (those more likely to vote Democrat) saw higher sales with a 75.32% increase compared to the last four Tuesdays, according to Drizly, an alcohol delivery company.
Swing states came in second, with a 54.84% increase. Red states (those likely to vote Republican) came in third with a 33% increase.
What were they drinking? Mostly wine and liquor.
Drizly reported 42.38% of the deliveries made were for wine with another 40.84% for liquor. Few people had interest in beer on election night, making up only 14.67% of sales.
But in swing states, people preferred liquor over wine and beer, accounting for almost half of all sales on election night.
Americans turn to comfort food
Typically on election night, Americans host watch parties as the results pour in over the course of several hours. Because of the coronavirus pandemic (and the fact results were unlikely to be official), many people either opted for smaller social circles or called off parties altogether.
For those who did settle in to watch the numbers, they turned to greasy food and desserts to cope.
According to data from DoorDash, fried foods and carbs were on people’s minds. The most-ordered appetizer of choice was French fries, with chicken fingers — a classic duo — ranked as the second most popular.
Americans also indulged in mozzarella sticks (#10) and hot fudge sundaes (#13).
There was a theme among several of the most popular foods from the night: Cheese.
Several people ordered cheeseburgers (#3), nachos (#7) and macaroni and cheese (#12). Orders for “cheese pizza” rose 80% on election night compared to the last Tuesday.
