From the San Jose Mercury News

Anatomy of a hybrid owner
TYPICAL OWNER/DRIVER
By Matt Nauman
Mercury News
Article Launched: 12/05/2007 01:36:19 AM PST

More than just a way to get around town, owning a hybrid car helps define a lifestyle, new research seems to suggest.
Besides some predictable findings that hybrid owners are wealthier, better-educated and tend to vote for Democrats, a report from Scarborough Research released Tuesday says they also:
• Eat organic food more often;
• Golf more regularly; and
• Vote in presidential elections at a higher rate.

What does it all mean? "My first reaction," said Tod Fitch, who has a two-Honda Civic Hybrid household, "is that I feel like a stereotype."

Still, the findings make sense to Fitch, a software architect for a start-up who lives in Sunnyvale. It "may explain why there are so many Hybrid owners in Silicon Valley. Relative wealth, environmental awareness, desire for a healthy lifestyle and the love of technological solutions are endemic here."

The information comes from Scarborough's survey of 110,000 adults conducted from August 2006 to March 2007.

It found that 42 percent of hybrid households make $100,000 a year or more, compared with about 20 percent nationally. Thirty percent of hybrid owners list themselves as Democrats. Only 14 percent say they're Republicans, so obviously GOP isn't the Grand Old Hybrid party.

Elaine Lee, a happy Honda Civic Hybrid owner in San Jose who gets 52.4 mpg, acknowledges most of the findings are true.

Her husband has a master's degree. They make a good living, although "as anybody who lives in the Silicon Valley knows, it's an expensive place to live." She's a manager of quality assurance at Gilead Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company. She's a registered Democrat, a recreational bicyclist, and someone who brings her own shopping bags to the grocery store.

Her bottom line? "I love my Civic Hybrid - 47,000 miles, 2 years old and going strong."
Hybrid sales continue to grow in the United States, and will pass 300,000 vehicles for the first time in 2007, according to thehybridcars.com Web site.

The growth comes despite the end of federal tax incentives for Toyota hybrids.

Hybrid hot spots
Mercury News
Article Launched: 12/05/2007 01:39:38 AM PST

Most 2007 hybrid sales¹
1. California 62,733
2. Florida 12,736
3. New York 12,137

Most hybrids per 1,000 residents¹
1. California 1.736
2. Oregon 1.662
3. Washington 1.448
U.S. average 0.746

Metro areas with highest hybrid sales¹
1. Los Angeles 28,153
2. San Francisco 18,316
9. Sacramento 5,462
12. San Diego 5,020
¹ Through August

OVERALL HYBRID SALES
Sales of gas-electric cars are on track to pass 300,000 this year:
• 2007: 288,034¹
• 2006: 252,636
¹ Through October

Demographics: Who hybrid owners are
Mercury News
Article Launched: 12/05/2007 01:36:27 AM PST

Scarborough Research compared hybrid owners with other Americans. It found that people who drive gas-electric hybrids, such as the Toyota Prius and Honda Civic Hybrid, differed in the following ways:

Exercise
• More than twice as likely to practice yoga or pilates.
• More than twice as likely to have gone on a hike in the past year.
• More than three times as likely to snow ski.
• Almost twice as likely to belong to a health club.

Education
• More than twice as likely to have a college degree.
• Three times as likely to have a post-graduate degree.

Eating
• More than twice as likely to have eaten organic food in the past month.

Political
• 38 percent are self-described Democrats.
• 14 percent say they are Republicans.
• 34 percent are independents.
• The rest did not provide their political affiliation.
• They vote more often in presidential races than the average American.