Who reads this thing anyway?

Following up on the community poll

By Peter Banks · · Updated · Read on Substack

Summary: The essay analyzes the demographic composition of the author's Substack readership based on a community poll conducted for the Fourth of July. The audience is characterized as predominantly well-educated, center-right men from America, with a notably higher proportion of right-wing readers compared to left-wing ones, though some libertarian readers are also present. The author highlights surprising findings including 16% female readership and notes that the audience belongs to the plebeian rather than proletarian class.

For the 4th of July, I did a community poll where I asked people to tell me about themselves. Today, I thought it would be fun to talk about the results.

High-level, my audience is well-educated, center-right men. But, like everything, it is more complex, and I have far more diversity than I expected.

For a while, my wings were perfectly balanced, but in the end, it looks like I have almost 2× as many right-wing readers as left-wing ones. Or at least this is true for the small fraction of people who filled out the polls. The others were mostly libertarian.

My audience is 100% cis, so I feel comfortable using the gender binary without any caveat going forward. Nevertheless, I’ll be honest—the 16% female audience was surprising! I feel like my comments are closer to 99% male. Hidden female readers, I see you!

Audience is mostly American.

My audience is very highly educated—truly elite human capital.

I purposely left this vague because I am a critical-age theorist (age is a social construct, and level of physical decay is a much more important indicator). For me, young is <35, middle is 35–65, and old is anything over 65.

I have a plebeian and not a proletarian audience.

Too many single people—go on dates!

Also, a shocking number of you are not subscribed! Here is the link for your convenience.

I’ll be interested to see how this changes in a year. In the meantime, thank you so much for reading and sharing.

I’ll leave this one with a final polls since I am interested in knowing this also.

Vote in the poll on Substack →

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Frequently asked questions

What demographic pattern surprised a Substack writer most when analyzing their audience poll results?

The author was surprised by the presence of a 16% female audience, noting that their comments section appears to be approximately 99% male. This discrepancy led the author to acknowledge the existence of 'hidden female readers' who engage with the content despite the male-dominated appearance of public comments.

How does a critical-age theorist categorize age demographics differently from standard chronological approaches?

The author rejects chronological age as the primary indicator, instead treating age as a social construct and preferring to use physical indicators of decay. They categorize audiences into three groups: young (under 35), middle (35 to 65), and old (over 65).

Selected quotes

Nevertheless, I'll be honest—the 16% female audience was surprising! I feel like my comments are closer to 99% male. Hidden female readers, I see you!
The author reflects on the gender composition of their readership after the community poll revealed more female readers than expected in their audience.

Related topics

Substack Audience Analysis · Political Ideology Distribution · Gender Representation in Readership · Educational Demographics