Well, surprise! Public radio listeners tend to be left-wing

It turns out the stereotype of left-leaning, gray-haired, classical music-loving public radio listeners is actually pretty true.

A study released by Arbitron finds that most of America’s 26 million public radio listeners are over age 35 and a good percentage are liberal.

Forty-four percent of those who listen to public talk radio are Democrats or Independents who lean toward Democrats, while just 36 percent are Republicans or Republican-leaning Independents.

That’s the exact opposite of how U.S. commercial talk radio listeners identify themselves. And most public radio stations program classical, jazz or album adult alternative, as opposed to commercial stations, which are led by adult contemporary, urban and contemporary hits.

Finally, while most public radio listening takes place in the morning, it’s not necessarily breakfast show traffic. The study found that most morning public radio listening takes place at home.