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At least there is one thing we can all agree on, whether we are politically red, blue or purple.

Americans don’t see eye-to-eye on politics, so why should it be any different when it comes to the brands we admire?

Democrats and Republicans, as it turns out, see the world very differently in terms of brand perception, and the outlook is different still for independents.

Democrats seem to love Google, for example, while the Internet search company fails to even break the top 10 list of Republicans' favorite brands, according to an annual ranking released Wednesday by YouGov Brand Index, a consumer research firm. 

Republicans and independents both have a high opinion of the History Channel and Discovery Channel -- brands that are just not top of mind for Democrats.

“Politics in the U.S. have become very personality-focused and we view brands as having a personality,” said June Cotte, associate professor of marketing at Western University in Canada said.

“If a brand is seen as young and hip it may be more associated with (President Barack) Obama, who is seen as young and hip compared to (former Gov. Mitt) Romney,” Cotte said.

News events also can have an impact.

Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy, for example, stirred up both criticism and support with his controversial comments against same-sex marriage. But those comments drove Chick-fil-A onto the top 10 list of well-perceived brands among Republicans for the first time. (The fast-food chain did not make the list among Democrats or independents.)

Some brands also got a bounce after the two political conventions this year.

The Democrats used the slogan “Osama Bin Laden is dead, General Motors is alive” during their convention, leading to a big bounce in perception for GM among Dems. Staples founder Thomas Stemberg stumped for Mitt Romney at the Republican’s convention, which helped garner the office supply chain a boost in ratings among Republicans.

As for M&M’s, perhaps they started packing more blue candies than red into their iconic mix of candy-coated chocolates. The popular candies made their debut on the top 10 list for both Democrats and independents this year, while melting off the Republicans’ top 10.

One brand that everyone seems to agree on is Cheerio's, which ranks in the top 10 for every political affiliation.

Ted Marzilli, managing director for YouGov’s BrandIndex, said several brands, including Fox News, PBS and Chick-fil-A, have a particularly polarizing effect.

While Fox News ranks as the No. 1 brand among Republicans, it ranks behind 1,084 other brands among Democrats.

Similarly Chick-fil-A ranked No. 4 among Republicans and No. 1,076 among Democrats.

And Romney seems to have chosen wisely in targeting PBS, which is ranked as the No. 9 brand among Democrats. Big Bird and friends rank as the No. 159 brand among Republicans. 

Here is the top 10 list for all three categories of voters:

Democrats:

1. Google
2. Amazon.com
3. Cheerios
4. Clorox
5. Craftsman
6. Dawn
7. M&Ms
8. Levi’s
9. PBS
10. Sony

Republicans:

1. Fox News Channel
2. History Channel
3. Craftsman
4. Chick-Fil-A
5. Johnson & Johnson
6. Lowe’s
7. Cheerios
8. Clorox
9. Fox
10. Discovery Channel

Independents:

1. Amazon.com
2. Craftsman
3. History Channel
4. Discovery Channel
5. Google
6. Clorox
7. Lowe’s
8. Johnson & Johnson
9. Cheerios
10. M&Ms

Dana Macario is a Seattle-area writer, who likes Cheerios, especially the Honey Nut ones.

AFP

The Drought-stricken corn grows in Missouri Valley, Iowa. Corn prices have soared to record highs.

Though severe drought conditions have raised the cost of food this summer, consumers may have seen the worst of the price impact at the grocery store.

Higher food prices helped lift the closely watched Producer Price Index by 0.3 percent in July, the fastest pace in five months. At the same time retail sales rose 0.8 percent, the first increase in four months and well ahead of expectations, signaling that the sluggish economy may be picking up momentum.

The increase in producer prices was driven in part by a jump in light truck prices, up 1.6 percent, and pharmaceuticals, up 0.9 percent. At the grocery store, wholesale prices rose a sharp 0.5 percent in July, on top of the same price rise in June. Over half that jump resulted from higher prices for beef and veal, which climbed 3.8 percent, according to the government.

But with livestock producers facing steep increases in the cost of feed grains, the rise in meat prices may soon reverse course, according to Michelle Girard, an economist at RBS.

“Because it's so much more expensive to keep them and feed them, you may actually get more cattle being brought to slaughter, so beef prices may actually in the very near term have downward pressure," she said.

To help slow that price drop, and cushion the drought's impact on livestock producers, the White House announced Monday that the federal government will buy $170 million of meat and poultry. The increased demand generated by the government will help offset the expected glut of supply as livestock producers rush their herds to slaughter to avoid spiking feed costs. 

Corn and soy harvest forecasts were slashed last week after the worst drought in 50 years destroyed millions of acres of crops. Corn prices last week hit record levels of nearly $9 a bushel. Wheat and soybeans also hit multiyear highs.

But those spikes are expected to ease as demand eases, beginning with those livestock producers who are trimming herds. Ethanol producers facing soaring corn prices have also scaled back production.  

Rising crop prices have also spurred foreign plantings in recent years, which may blunt the impact of this year’s shortfall in the U.S., according to a recent report on the drought's economic impact from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Since 2003, for example, the former Soviet Union has added 48 million acres of crop production and South American nations have planted an additional 42 million acres, according to the report.

“High prices could entice further expansions in global production that could lead to lower prices,” the report said. “The best cure for high prices might be high prices.”

U.S. consumers will also be shielded from the recent sharp spikes in grain prices because the cost of those raw materials make up a relatively small share of the overall price of finished food products. Commodities like corn and wheat make up roughly 14 percent of the retail cost of food, according to the USDA. The rest of the price posted on the supermarket shelf represents processing, packaging, shipping, marketing and other production costs.    

The Kansas City Fed report estimates this year’s drought could add about 4 percent to retail food prices next year. Since the cost of food makes up about 14 percent of the Consumer Price Index, the drought would contribute just 0.6 percent to overall inflation, according to the Kansas City Fed economists.

Consumers facing higher food prices are also getting some relief from a recent fallback in gasoline prices. Energy prices fell 0.4 percent in July for the fifth month in a row, according to the government’s inflation report. Wholesale gasoline prices fell 3.1 percent last month.

The summer surge in corn prices has sparked calls for a waiver of the government‘s mandates and subsidies promoting corn-based ethanol. Some 40 percent of the U.S. corn crop is diverted to produce the gasoline additive, which raises fuel octane and lowers air pollution.

But a waiver of those mandates appears unlikely – largely because refiners would be hard-pressed to cope with a shortfall in ethanol production. 

“Our gasoline logistics and distribution system is so entrenched with ethanol that we need it and very difficult for the refining system to change," said Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates.

With no end in sight to the parched conditions, areas and businesses hardest hit by drought are already feeling the economic impact. But overall losses in the farm belt are expected to be reduced by the widespread use of federal farm insurance, which covers farmer’s losses from crop failures.

So the overall economic impact of this summer’s crop shortfall is expected to knock less than a tenth of a percent off gross domestic product, according to Paul Dales, economist at Capital Economics.

“This is clearly not a disaster for the total economy, but when growth is just 2 percent every little bit counts,” he said.

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Americans are still keeping a tight grip on their wallets, bypassing vacations and dinners out, even though they feel better about their own financial security.

What’s still spooking U.S. consumers? Gas prices.

Even though gas prices have been declining for several months, nearly six in 10 consumers say they’ve cut back on nonessential spending because of hefty fuel prices, according to a study released Monday by Bankrate.com.

“Gas prices are still a drag on people’s spending power,” said Greg McBride, Bankrate’s senior financial analyst.

According to AAA, the national average price for regular unleaded fuel declined to $3.689 a gallon, down from $3.871 a gallon last month, and below the average prices of $3.867 a year ago.

“Despite the drop in recent weeks, gas prices are still at elevated levels,” he continued. This at a time, he pointed out, “when so many households are dealing with stagnant incomes.”

But there’s good news in the Bankrate.com report. Consumers are feeling pretty okay about their job security and their debt loads.

For the first time since December 2010, Bankrate’s Financial Security Index -- which tracks how consumer gauge there overall economic health -- passed the 100 threshold, which shows that Americans see an improvement in their financial security.

Bankrate's Financial Security Index

“We’ve seen improvement on multiple fronts,” McBride maintained. “People are feeling more secure in their jobs, they feel better about their debt burdens, and they’re reporting lower net worth with less frequency.”

The main reason for the optimism, he noted, was the stabilizing of home prices throughout many town across the country. “When people see home prices sliding they can see their net worth declining, but when they rise, all of a sudden they feel better about their net worth.”

So the wild card, he added, are gas prices. If they start to decline further, “that’s going to breath some life into household budgets and they’ll have more money to spend.”

And it may take off before the job market gets more robust. 

“While hiring has not exactly taken off, downsizing activity remains relatively low and many employers are actually worried about losing talent," maintained John Challenger, CEO of outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. "This is not to say that job security has returned to pre-recession levels, but workers certainly are enjoying more security than two years ago."  

What’s your take? Have you decided to cut back on nights out at the movies, or Memorial Day travel because of gas prices? Do you feel more secure about you job? 

Getty Images file

Whole Foods saw customer satisfaction increase in the past year, according to a new survey.

We’ve been hearing a lot of potentially positive news about the economy lately, and that may be trickling down to the grocery store level.

A new survey finds that even though food prices are going up, Americans are more satisfied than they were a year ago with upscale grocer Whole Foods and less satisfied with discount giant Wal-Mart.

The American Customer Satisfaction Index, an ongoing study of people’s shopping preferences, said Whole Foods’ customer satisfaction rose slightly in the past year, continuing an upward trend. It’s the nation's second most beloved major grocery, after Publix.

Wal-Mart, on other hand, saw customer satisfaction fall. It’s the least popular of the major grocers in the survey.

David VanAmburg, managing director of the ACSI, said that in general people tend to favor quality over price – except when we experience a downturn as we did with the Great Recession.

“When the economy tanks, people are thinking more about, ‘How can I stretch my dollar as much as possible?’” VanAmburg said.

As the tepid recovery has picked up steam, shoppers appear to be starting to look again at factors such as store cleanliness, checkout lines and quality of produce, VanAmburg said.

“Things have improved enough that customers are looking more for quality. They’re looking for that combination of good quality and good price,” VanAmburg said.

Consumer prices jumped in January, thanks in part to high gas prices, and food prices were up slightly. But the nation’s unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent last month, one of a growing number of signs that brighter days are coming.

A separate poll from Pew Research Center found that people are more optimistic about the economy than they were even two months ago.

In periods such as this, when the economy is showing improvement and prices are rising, upscale chains like Whole Foods have more tools available, VanAmburg said.

The store, which some call “Whole Paycheck” for its high prices, can offer promotional deals or tout its private label 365 Everyday Value line, which may make people feel better about shopping there. That can build on what people already think of as a positive shopping experience, he said.

Wal-Mart, on the other hand, is largely known for being low-cost, and that can make it harder for the chain to find other ways to attract customers when food prices are rising, VanAmberg said.

Wal-Mart has said it is making a major effort to keep costs down. In its most recent earnings call in November, the company acknowledged that rising food prices are an issue for its core customers and that it was trying to absorb some price increases.

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Sarah Spencer said she couldn’t comment specifically on the ACSI study because she hadn’t seen it. But she said the company works hard to please customers with such efforts as helping people choose healthy foods and sourcing more food locally.

“We survey more than half a million customers every month, and they are telling us they are pleased with their shopping experience at our stores and clubs. We continue to work to meet and succeed our customers' expectations by offering them low prices on fresh and packaged food,” she said in an email.

The American Customer Satisfaction Index is based on interviews with about 70,000 customers annually, gauging opinions on  several different industries.

Paul Sakuma / AP

Shopping behavior patterns are set early in life, a new study finds.

Linda Carroll writes: Remember back in elementary school where everything from lining up to being called for attendance was done in alphabetical order, based on your last name? It turns out that experience may have had long-lasting effects on the way you shop.

If your last name begins with a letter near the end of the alphabet you’re more likely to have a twitchy finger anxious to hit the buy button, whether for clothes or concert tickets, a new study shows. People with names closer to the beginning of the alphabet tend to have more patience and may even pass up good deals as they weigh their options, researchers reported in the Journal of Consumer Research.

When you have been forced to wait at the end of the line throughout your childhood, you tend to jump at the opportunity to be first when you grow up, said lead author Kurt A. Carlson, assistant professor of marketing at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.

Carlson and his colleagues reported on several experiments looking into the impact of people’s last names. In one study, e-mails were sent out offering a chance at $500 in exchange for completing a survey. Responses zipped in from people with surnames near the end of the alphabet. Those from people with names from the  beginning trickled in much later.

In another study, researchers sent out an offer for free basketball tickets, noting that supplies were limited. Sure enough, people with names starting late in the alphabet were the first to answer.

To see if the effect truly traced back to childhood, Carlson and his colleagues looked at women who had changed their names upon marriage.

The researchers found no correlation between a woman’s married name and her purchasing behavior. But when they looked instead at maiden names, the link between buying behavior and last name showed up again. 

The study shows how our behaviors can be affected by things we never think about, experts said.

“What’s so interesting is that experiences that are so tiny that we don’t think they mean anything, do actually shape our behavior,” said Kit Yarrow, a consumer psychologist and chair of the psychology department at Golden Gate University in San Francisco. “It’s like the notion that small drops of water can create a groove in a rock. Repetition is clearly the key in establishing some of these behaviors.”

Carlson’s co-author, Jacqueline Conard, recognized the power of the last name even before the two researchers came up with their study. She began life as a Yates and assumed her husband’s surname when she got married. When she got divorced, she got rid of the man but kept the new last name. “Being at the beginning of the alphabet is MUCH better,” said Conard, an assistant professor of marketing at the Massey Graduate School of Business at Belmont University in Nashville.