Despite pensions for helping to reinvigorate urban neighborhoods, especially here in North Baltimore, the nebulous hipster is apparently a target for scorn in the United States.
A poll released by Public Policy Polling shows that a large percentage of Americans (42 percent) have an unfavorable opinion of "hipsters," a group of men and women "unusually aware of and interested in new and unconventional patterns,"according to Merriam Webster.
The Urban Dictionary says members of this subculture are "typically in their 20s and 30s" and "value independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics, indie-rock" and "witty banter."
In the PPP poll, only 16 percent of American have a favorable opinion of hipsters, with Democrats twice as likely (18 percent) compared to their Republican counterparts (9 percent). Unsurprisingly, 43 percent of voters aged 18-29 have a favorable opinion, while only 6 percent of voters over the age of 65 do.
When given a choice between thinking that hipsters have “made a positive cultural contribution to society” or taken “soullessly appropriate cultural tropes from the past for their own ironic amusement,” twice as many (46 percent) chose the soulless appropriation over positive contribution (23 percent).
You can view the entire poll on attitudes toward hipsters, including the demographics of those polled here.