Hamptons Store’s $3 Election-Cup Tradition Reveals Momentum for Harris
(Bloomberg) -- Back in the early days of summer, a lifetime ago in a helter-skelter presidential-election campaign, it was the Trump cups that were flying off the shelves at the Monogram Shop in the Hamptons.
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But since President Joe Biden quit the race for the White House and Kamala Harris emerged as Donald Trump’s opponent, cups with the vice president’s name have dominated.
Now, just before voting ends in an election that polls show is anyone’s to win, the shop’s count is giving the odds to the Democratic candidate. At least in this corner of East Hampton, Harris is sweeping Trump — 14,218 cups to 7,418 (including when Biden was his opponent).
The counting of sales in $3 “candidate cups” featuring the two candidates is a quaint tradition going on two decades in the equally quaint shop, where the typical offerings include high-end knick knacks such as $200 personalized bathrobes and $80 cocktail napkins.
Since 2004, it has correctly indicated the winner of the presidential contest all but once, when Trump beat Hillary Clinton in 2016. Owner Valerie Smith contends even that 2016 blip is an accurate reflection of American sentiment that year, given Clinton won the popular vote.
Before Biden dropped out of the 2024 race, there were days when Trump was outselling him by a ratio of as much as five to one, Smith said. When the shop started selling cups with Harris’ name, “the ratio reversed,” she says.
Even though New York traditionally votes Democrat, Suffolk County — where the store is located — is a swing district. And while Smith’s clientele may consist of people who can drop $190 on a monogrammed canvas tote bag, her sample size includes customers from all over the country, she says.
The cups show voters’ enthusiasm, she said, adding that 2024’s sales have been a record for the store. Smith and her daughter Hadley founded the Monogram Shop in 1997 and started selling candidate cups in 2004, when President George W. Bush was reelected.
“It ebbs and flows,” the elder Smith told Bloomberg in mid-October, explaining that on any given day either candidate may sell more cups than the other.
The weekend before Election Day was a case in point. On Sunday, Trump outsold Harris 57 to 52. A day prior, Harris won the count 91 to 22.
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