As we all head to the polls to cast our votes for president today, you should know you’ve been watched. Our actions have been reviewed and categorized by marketing analysts to the point that they say they can predict your vote based on your consumer behavior. Something as insignificant as a tweet about your favorite soda has been documented and analyzed and that affinity for a certain brand has you pegged Republican or Democrat.

If you’re a Diet Dr. Pepper drinker, you’re probably going to vote for Mitt Romney today. If you are a Pepsi drinker, your vote is likely for Barack Obama today. These statistics and so many more have been collected through a task that is called micro-targeting. Tarun Wadhwa reported in The Huffington Post that it became apparent in 2000 that only seven percent of voters were being reached by traditional ads. Something more effective needed to take place, and this is what lead to micro-targeting.

Since our lives are lived so publicly today, thanks to online activity, ads can be delivered to a potential voter based on their personal traits. To accomplish an accurate understanding of voters, tons of facts have been uncovered. As the facts were analyzed, separated, and charted, it became eerily accurate.
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Next week presents so many possible changes for our nation as we mark our ballots. Election day could end with a new president lined up to lead the country. A new president impacts huge issues like the soldiers overseas, foreign affairs, and of course the budget. As you vote next week, you will also be determining smaller issues that affect all of us. Who we vote in as our Commander-in-Chief may change what’s served on a large percentage of Americans’ dinner tables.

Frequently called food stamps, our government has a food assistance program called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The program is income based and designed to help those who are financially struggling. According to Politofact.com, one in seven US families are using the SNAP program. Findings from the Food Research and Action Center state that many families struggle to purchase enough nutritious food before the month’s allotment runs out. Many users cannot afford proper foods for healthy meals and actually have to turn to food pantries to supplement their food needs.

If one out of seven families are currently needing the SNAP program and the current benefits are found to be too little to support a family, what can one expect from our primary candidates on this issue?

Valerie Jarrett is the Senior Advisor to the President Obama. She explained in The White House Blog where he stands on the issue of food assistance.

“…When President Obama took office, he enhanced and expanded the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The investments we made kept 3.9 million Americans, including 1.7 million children, above the poverty line in 2010. They prevented child hunger from rising, even as poverty and unemployment levels increased in the wake of the economic crisis.”

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reported on what former Governor Romney may intend to do about the SNAP budget is he were elected. Richard Kogan and Paul N. Van de Water wrote that Romney would cut entitlement and discretionary program budgets. These cuts would mean a reduction in the funds allotted for SNAP.
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Surely you’ve been hearing the buzz about GMOs by now.  As the vote in California is just around the corner, many more groups are talking about this controversial topic. In case you aren’t sure what all the talk is about, the California ballot next month will ask voters to pass a law to require labeling of GMOs, or Genetically Modified Organisms. If you haven’t decided where you stand about this subject, here are 7 facts about GMOs we hope will persuade you to vote Yes on 37.

1. A GMO is a Food with Altered DNA. Before we get too caught up in the details, let’s start at the beginning and define what a GMO is. GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organism. Much of our food supply is comprised of these organisms. A genetically modified food is a plant or meat that has had its DNA altered in a lab. Genes from other plants or organisms have been artificially altered to create unnatural compounds in food. This is all done in order to yield larger crops, allow the crop to resist insects, protect against viruses, and tolerate herbicides. This is all done in hopes to create bigger profits and lower costs to consumers.

2. The US is a Global Leader in GMO Crops. According to USA Today, the US leads the world in GMO crop planting. We planted 170 million acres in 2012. That yielded 95% of the country’s sugar beets, 94% of the soybeans, 90% of the cotton, and 88% of the feed corn.
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Let’s hear it for Pizza Hut for trying to turn an already messy election year in to a circus stunt for entertainment. Utterly ridiculous news broke this week when Pizza Hut announced they’d give a large pizza every week for 30 years to the person who dared ask President Obama and Mr. Romney “pepperoni or sausage” during tonight’s town hall debate.

First of all, it’s a blatant disregard for our political system and the serious answers American voters are seeking in tonight’s second and final debate between the two presidential candidates.

As should come as no surprise from a company responsible for a hot dog stuffed pizza, it’s also a gluttonous promotion to keep making our nation fatter. Maybe we should understand more about their health care policies, since Pizza Hut, one of America’s top brands, is also a culprit in our obesity epidemic.

Just a single slice of their large hand-tossed pepperoni pizza has 330 calories, 14 grams of fat and 910 grams of sodium. That’s almost an entire meal’s worth of calories in just one piece of pizza, not to mention the near day’s worth of sodium. Consider most people eat two to four slices at a time and you’re looking at 660 to 1320 calories every week.

The company is now backtracking after meeting with some deserved backlash. A statement said they are taking their “pizza party” online and will ask people to vote online – pepperoni or sausage – and draw one random winner. The winner will still have the option of 1560 free large pizzas (or one every week for 30 years), or a cash equivalent payout of $15,600.

We say take the cash; you’ll need that money otherwise to burn off the four million calories you stand to consume in pizza alone over the next 30 years.
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To some, asking who you’re voting for in this year’s election is seen as an invasion of privacy. However, others are very vocal about who they will be voting for this year. With health care being one of the biggest issues in the election, do you wonder who the doctors will be voting for? According to an MDLinx poll, hospital-based physicians will vote for President Obama while solo practitioners will vote for Mr. Romney.

MDLinx surveyed over 4681 U.S. physicians and asked which presidential candidate they support, and they found the support depended upon their place of employment. President Obama was supported by most hospital-based physicians by a 47 to 37 percent margin, with 12 percent of doctors undecided. But doctors with their own practices prefer Romney by 58 to 28 percent with 11 percent undecided.

Stephen Smith, Chief Marketing Officer for MDLinx, commented on the survey. “Health care has charged to the top of the campaigns’ messaging this year, and U.S. physicians have a lot invested in the direction taken in the next administration.” Also, Smith mentions, “Nearly one-third said that their vote was ‘completely’ or ‘mostly’ influenced by the candidates’ health care policy.”

What exactly are President Obama’s and Mr. Romney’s plans for health care? President Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known as “ObamaCare,” reforms imposed regulations on private health insurance providers. The act made changes to ensure better coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions and improve coverage for those with Medicare.
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