What’s the difference between a pickup-driving, Budweiser-swilling redneck and a Prius-owning, latte-sipping effete liberal? Not much, at least when it comes to buying environmentally friendly products, according to Wal-Mart. Since April the retailer has been tracking purchases of five eco-oriented products to gauge its 180 million customers’ attitudes toward buying green. (The products: compact fluorescent light bulbs, organic milk, concentrated or reduced-packaging liquid laundry detergents, extended-life
paper products and organic baby food.) Today Wal-Mart (WMT) said its Live Better Index shows that 18.62 percent of residents in Republican-leaning states are making green purchases at its stores versus 18.68 percent of shoppers in Democrat-dominated states. (Of course, given the demographic of Wal-Mart’s customer base, there’s probably far
more green blue-staters – those legions of Whole Foods shoppers
who wouldn’t step foot in a Wal-Mart.)
Wal-Mart has undertaken a raft of environmental initiatives over the past year and it directed its survey results at the 2008 presidential candidates. "Live Better Index Reveals that Red and Blue States Cross Political Lines, Unite in ‘Green’ State,’ " proclaimed the headline on its press release. "The high demand for our environmentally friendly products suggests that the environment will be a hot topic for next year’s election," said Wal-Mart chief marketing officer Stephen Quinn in a statement. In other words, the GOP-friendly company seems to be telling presidential contenders that brown is fast falling out of fashion, even in die-hard red states. "Sales … reveal that red and blue states are embracing products that help the environment," the company said, "with blue states leading in sales of organic baby food, CFLs and concentrated/reduced-packaging liquid laundry detergent, and red states leading in sales of organic milk and extended-life paper products."
Green Wombat 
The fact that people are in the process of developing concern for the environment by being more aware of their purchases inspires me.
This is a demographics question that’s really about the people buying at Walmart. It’s just saying that 18% of the people that buy at Walmart are concerned about these kinds of products. Is there really that much difference between the Walmart shopper in a red state and the one from a blue state in terms of income, education and voting preference?
I’m a bit shocked by the Whole Foods comment. Are you saying there are more rich white liberals who vote Democratic than there are poor African-American and Hispanic Democrats who shop at Wallmart? If anything I think the demographics favor the later.