A suburban Philadelphia bakery’s cookie “poll” that began in the course of the 2008 presidential marketing campaign as a joke between the homeowners and their clients has grown into far more.
Lochel’s Bakery in Hatboro is swamped with orders. Persons are driving from a pair hours away to purchase the cookies in individual and cargo orders are coming from as far-off as Alaska.
The bakery sells 4-inch (10-centimeter) spherical sugar cookies, one with blue and white sprinkles and a Harris 2024 label on it and the opposite with crimson and white sprinkles and a Trump 2024 label on it. The sale of every Harris 2024 cookie counts as a vote within the ballot for Democrat Kamala Harris and likewise for Republican Donald Trump.
The cookie ballot began in 2008 and precisely predicted the winner the primary thrice, however not in 2020, when Trump misplaced the election for the White Home to Democrat Joe Biden.
Kathy Lochel, whose husband is Lochel’s third-generation baker, mentioned gross sales exploded that 12 months, as clients purchased hundreds of cookies.
“It’s only a enjoyable, non-stressful tally that we’re taking,” Lochel said. “It’s undoubtedly not scientific. It’s only a scrumptious method I say to take the strain off with what’s going on with the election, all of the adverts, all of the marketing campaign stuff, only a cookie.
“I can’t emphasize that extra. It’s only a cookie.”
Helene Moran purchased Trump cookies on her 82nd birthday along with her daughter and son-in-law who dwell in North Carolina.
“Which we do whenever Trump is up for election,” mentioned Moran, who lives close to the bakery. “He’s my sweetheart, I love him so much.”
This 12 months, election cookie gross sales are outpacing 2020’s gross sales.
“These cookies are being shipped all over the United States right now, so much so that they’re on back order, so we’re about three to four weeks back,” Lochel mentioned.
For now, the bakery ensures shipments will arrive by Election Day on Nov. 5, Lochel mentioned. Clients are driving from a pair hours away can get them sooner, she mentioned.
It might not harm enterprise that Lochel’s is within the battleground state of Pennsylvania. It additionally could not harm that Lochel’s is within the closely populated and average suburbs of Philadelphia, the place Trump and Harris are vying for help.
Trump’s numbers could have gotten a lift after he shared a narrative in regards to the cookie ballot on his social media platform. As of Tuesday, Trump was main Harris, 12,558 to 889—a far larger lead than pollsters have discovered.
The election apart—with its assault adverts, name-calling and social media barbs—the cookie-buying public has been completely nice and optimistic.
“The people that are coming into our store, whether they’re buying red or blue cookies, they’re friendly, they joke, they laugh, they buy other things,” Lochel mentioned.
