This past weekend, in The CivicScience Poll of the Day, we asked Americans a simple question: how do you feel about cottage cheese? The results came back almost evenly split — but the more interesting story is what the data reveal when you look beyond the topline.
Among those with an opinion, 32% of Americans say they love cottage cheese, 41% are fine with it, and 37% actively hate it. Not exactly a consensus food.
Age shapes the divide in a few notable ways. Adults 18-29 are the most enthusiastic, with 40% saying they love it — the highest of any age group and well above the 30-44 cohort, which also has the highest hate rate at 30%. Adults 65 and older are the most likely to land in the middle, with 48% landing on “ok with it.”
What Cottage Cheese Preferences Reveal About Americans
CivicScience cross-referenced cottage cheese opinions with a range of other questions, and the patterns that emerged go well beyond food preferences:
Snack palate: Despite its savory reputation, cottage cheese is more popular among people who describe themselves as sweet snackers (52%) than among those who describe themselves as savory snackers. Haters, meanwhile, are nearly evenly split between the two palates.
Favorite green vegetable: Cottage cheese lovers are the most likely to name broccoli as the superior green vegetable (34%), compared to 23% of those who hate it. Haters show a stronger affinity for green beans (22% vs. 13% of lovers).
Wake-up time: Cottage cheese lovers are more likely to be early risers, with 44% waking between 2 AM and 6 AM, compared to 34% of those who hate it. The cottage cheese haters skew later across the board.
YouTube usage: Cottage cheese haters are the most active users, with 53% visiting daily or weekly, compared to 44% among cottage cheese lovers. Lovers are also the most likely to be YouTube non-users at 20%.
Headphone preference: Cottage cheese lovers and haters actually have more in common with each other than with the “ok with it” crowd when it comes to headphones. Both skew toward wired (18% and 30%, respectively), while those who are merely fine with cottage cheese are the most likely to say either works for them (51%) and the least likely to prefer wired (6%). Strong opinions about cottage cheese, it seems, come with stronger opinions about headphones too.
Where do you stand? Take this poll now and see how your preference compares with other Americans:
Food preferences rarely exist in isolation, and cottage cheese is no exception. The patterns that emerge across sleep schedules, screen habits, and snack preferences suggest that what you think of it reflects something larger about who you are.
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This article’s data comes solely from CivicScience’s database, which contains nearly 700,000 poll questions and 5 billion consumer insights.