Voting Trump or Harris with your wallet: How shoppers navigate when business and politics collide

Marsha Rosenzweig Pincus long considered Hymie’s Deli a “go-to place,” where she has enjoyed countless meals and picked up food for Jewish holidays since the 1970s.

But after seeing the Republican Jewish’s Coalition’s recent pro-Donald Trump ad, which was filmed in the Merion Station institution, the 71-year-old retired schoolteacher won’t be dining there anytime soon.

“The content of that ad — targeting women like me, Main Line Jewish women — I found incredibly offensive and condescending,” said Rosenzweig Pincus, a Bryn Mawr Democrat who will be voting for Kamala Harris.

“As if he hadn’t already said publicly that if he loses, it’ll be because of the Jews,” she added. “Trump already put a target on the back of any Jew who isn’t voting for him.”

» READ MORE: Hymie’s Deli is the setting for a new pro-Trump ad. Not everyone’s pleased about it.

And while Hymie’s owner Louis Barson said neither he nor Hymie’s is endorsing Trump, Rosenzweig Pincus said she won’t be able to separate the business from the ad.

Barson, a registered Independent, said the ad was shot at the Merion Station deli as a favor to his friend Matthew Brooks, CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition. Barson says he is undecided about whom he’ll vote for in the presidential election.

The ad has resulted in political backlash for Hymie’s, with hundreds weighing in on social media. Many said they will never again patronize the 71-year-old restaurant. Others say they are more likely to visit after seeing the ad.

With about a week until the election, the blowback is a nuanced, hyperlocal example of the kind of conscious consumerism that has intensified nationwide and is often aimed at large companies or brands.

» READ MORE: Your candidate guide to the November election, from president to Pa. House and Senate races

Jeffrey L. Seltzer, a 59-year-old IT consultant from Newtown Square, said he will stop his weekly trips to Hymie’s for soups, cakes, deli meats, and sit-down meals: “Giving them $100 a week and propping up something I don’t believe in, it just feels wrong.”

Others said the ad had the opposite effect.

Marc Ullman, a 52-year-old Republican from Galloway, N.J., said he “would patronize them more now.” As a small-business owner and a Trump supporter who sees the former president as more supportive of Israel, Ullman agreed with the ad’s message.

So did Judy Kroll, a 58-year-old independent from Holland, Bucks County: “I want to go there soon and get a corned beef sandwich before the election.”

At a stressful time in a deeply divided nation, some consumers are being pickier about the politics of the places where they spend money.

It’s one form of marketplace conflict that Scott Broetzmann studied in his 2023 Customer Rage Survey, which surveyed 1,000 U.S. consumers. In a part of the survey titled “customer uncivility,” Broetzmann, president and CEO of Customer Care Measurement & Consulting, and fellow researchers found that on average three-quarters of participants would express their disagreement with a business if its political or social views misaligned with their own. About half of them said a “personal boycott” would be an acceptable response.

Consumers on both sides of the political aisle have sworn off companies.

Conservatives boycotted Bud Light over its collaboration with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney and Target over its Pride displays. Liberals boycotted Hobby Lobby — which has advocated for a Christian-run government, among other conservative stances — and Home Depot, which was cofounded by a billionaire Trump donor.

Chick-fil-A has drawn ire from both sides, first from liberals after a former CEO came out against gay marriage in 2012 and then from conservatives who took issue with the chain’s diversity, equity, and inclusion policies last year.

But when there are calls for boycotts, other consumers may go out of their way to patronize an establishment in support of its known or perceived politics, Broetzmann said. These counteractions, which are sometimes called “buycotts,” can even negate the effect of boycotts.

“Virtue signaling is, if you think about it, a form of marketing,” Broetzmann said. If some consumers associate a business with Trump, for instance, “one out of every two people, at least statistically speaking, could be Trump supporters that are customers of that business.”

At Hymie’s, Barson said the recent political blowback hasn’t hurt the deli’s business.

“My business hasn’t dropped off one dime,” Barson said Wednesday. “I can’t say if that is because it brought in new people and old people didn’t come in.”

“For the most part,” the owner added, “it’s business as usual.”

At the Hampton Food Market in Southampton, Bucks County, co-owner Samuel Nemirovsky has made it a business practice to remain apolitical.

But a few weeks ago, the Eastern European grocer unintentionally found itself the target of Trump supporters. The market’s TVs, which play a loop of advertisements curated by a third-party company, showed a pro-Harris ad. In a local Facebook group, a customer posted anonymously about having seen the ad in the store.

The social-media blowback was swift and “overwhelmingly against us,” Nemirovsky said. It wasn’t isolated to the internet. In the days that followed, Nemirovsky said, he noticed a drop in sales. Despite explaining the situation to customers and directing the third-party company to stop playing political ads at his store, he knows some customers have yet to return.

“Our workers are not seeing some of the same faces that they’ve always seen,” Nemirovsky said. Meanwhile, two new customers told him that they were now patronizing the store because of the ad.

Across the Philadelphia area and the political spectrum, consumers take a range of approaches to navigating the politics of consumerism.

Some said they don’t look up the views of every company where they spend money. But if they learn of a business’ stance on a political or social issue, it’s hard to ignore.

Politics “generally is not something that I think about when I’m consuming goods and services,” Rosenzweig Pincus said. “But when the business goes out of its way to call attention to their political beliefs, and if they are ones that I feel are harmful to my well-being, then I stop frequenting the establishment.”

It’s been years since Ullman, the South Jersey Republican, said he has enjoyed a pint of Ben & Jerry’s, the ice cream company that advocates for “progressive social change,” according to its website.

Janine Heggs, a 28-year-old cloud engineer from Pennsauken, said she avoids brands such as Hobby Lobby — the founder of which has donated to Trump’s preemptive “Stop the Steal” 2.0 effort, according to the Wall Street Journal — and Goya, which is run by a CEO who repeated the false claims that the former president won the 2020 election.

“They’re pretty outspoken in their support for Trump, and that does not vibe with me,” Heggs said.

Several consumers said their political consciousness depends on the shopping circumstances. If two stores that carry the same items are equally convenient, for example, they may choose based on the companies’ known or perceived politics. But other times, they may shop at the store that is closer or more top-of-mind.

“I try to pick and choose wisely, but I’m not like ‘Oh, boycott that,’ or ‘I’ll never go into Home Depot,’” said Seltzer, the Newtown Square Democrat. But “when I think of it, I’ll go to Lowe’s.”

Other consumers try to compartmentalize politics and their daily shopping habits.

Lori DiGioia, a patient services representative from West Chester, said she doesn’t pay much attention to the views of companies and businesses. The 60-year-old Republican, who is voting for Trump, couldn’t name a liberal or Democratic business that she wouldn’t support.

“Mainly, I’m just looking for prices,” she said. “I’m looking to save money.”

Kroll, the Bucks County Trump voter, loves Bruce Springsteen, who over his decades-long career has become increasingly vocal in support of Democrats. In a recent video endorsing Harris, Springsteen called Trump “the most dangerous candidate for president in my lifetime.”

While Kroll disagrees with his assessment, she hasn’t let politics stop her from fangirling over the rocker — and shelling out money on his concerts, music, and merchandise. In the last six months alone, she’s spent thousands of dollars to see Springsteen in Philadelphia, Asbury Park, N.J., and Syracuse, N.Y.

“I was told by people that if I don’t espouse his views … that I have no business listening to him,” she said. “Well, I say there is more in his music than just politics.”

In East Passyunk, Megan Walsh, a 25-year-old Democrat, said she also largely puts politics aside when she’s deciding where to spend her money.

Walsh, who works in pharmaceutical marketing, has already cast her ballot for Harris, and thinks “Trump should never come within 100 miles of the White House.”

But when the man behind the counter at her favorite sandwich shop was wearing a Trump shirt on a recent day, she didn’t let it faze her.

Internally, “I was like, ‘We’re not going to look at that, because he makes a great cutlet sandwich,’” Walsh said. “And I’ll trust him with that.”