This popular meme is generally shared as a humorous way to get out the vote. It’s light-hearted in nature but it’s also misleading and a good example of “fake news” and sloppy reporting. Several major news outlets (here, here, here and here) all ran headlines saying Taco Bell was voted best Mexican restaurant. Some even used quotes, signifying this was a direct quote from the poll.
Not only is this not what the poll said, it ironically has many more similarities to voting than one might think.
The Harris Poll
As the meme indicates, this comes from the annual Harris Poll, which is a survey on brand identification, not some effort to discover the best restaurants. It’s purpose is to identify and reward the best marketing strategies. Respondents weren’t voting on their favorite Mexican restaurant, nor were they asked about their favorite restaurant. Each respondent was asked to rate 40 brands across a variety of various industries. They were answering random online questions about a few, pre-chosen brands.
In the Mexican category, there were only 6 options of chain restaurants: Taco Bell, Chipotle, Moe’s Southwest Grill, Qdoba, Baja Fresh, and Del Taco. The chains were judged on three qualities: familiarity, quality, and future consideration. When the responses were added up, Taco Bell prevailed. Moe’s and Chipotle were winners in recent years.
Del Taco isn’t found in most states, and Baja Fresh only has 162 locations total (compared to 5,604 Taco Bells) so both likely suffer from brand recognition in comparison. Of note, the poll in previous years marked the category “Fast Casual Mexican Restaurant”. They appeared to simplify it to “Mexican Restaurant” in the latest poll, although the criteria appears the same.
This means Taco Bell was not voted “best Mexican restaurant”, but “brand of the year”, based on a randomized survey, which seeks to rate the most identifiable and popular brands. In fact, Harris appears very careful to not use the words “best restaurant” or best anything in their awards. They clearly label it “brand of the year”, as shown in the picture below.
One could also misread the poll and say Kohl’s is the “best department store”, or Krispy Kreme was voted “best coffee shop”, but that would be just as absurd.
Far from this being an example of what happens “when you don’t vote”, it’s actually a pretty apt comparison of when you do. You’re forced to choose among a small number of options that you don’t really like, and the winner gets undue recognition and is declared the representative of the entire country by the media.