In the South, fried chicken is comfort food, but lately it's been a surrogate for political leanings.

Thousands of people flocked to Chick-fil-A last week to support the fast-food chain amid controversy over its stance on gay marriage.

Public Policy Polling asked North Carolina voters which fried chicken they preferred. and Chick-fil-A came out on top, with 40 percent, over KFC (23 percent) and Bojangles (18 percent).

PPP also did political affiliation breakdowns:

- Voters describing themselves as "very liberal" preferred KFC to Chick-Fil-A by a 43 percent to 11 percent margin, with Bojangles coming in second at 17 percent.

- Chick-Fil-A beat KFC by a 61 percent to 17 percent with self-identified "very conservative" voters.

What was surprising was that KFC polled better than Bojangles. PPP writes:

"This appears to be a product of the excess yankification of North Carolina. Bojangles and KFC tie at 21 percent among North Carolina natives, but the transplants go for KFC by a 26/13 margin. Perhaps with time they will see the error of their ways."

Yankification, if you didn't know, is when a bunch of Yankees move into your state. In the Triangle, we have a place for those folks. It's called Cary.

Read the full results here.