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Tipping can be a social and cultural maelstrom. And social media doesnt always help.

A National Basketball Association player who has a $30 million contract drew internet ire last week after leaving a $13.97 tip on a $487.13 bill. Andre Roberson of the Oklahoma City Thunder made headlines for the paltry tip, and the strong reaction shows just how emotional the question of tipping can be.

But it wasnt quite as clear-cut as it seemed. Roberson released a statement on Twitter TWTR, +0.56% saying he was misrepresented, saying he bought one bottle of liquor for $487 at a bar, around five times the retail price and rounded it out to $500. Roberson said he also had a $100 tab on shorts for which he left a $200. I thought hed be grateful for the $200 tip, he wrote of the barman who served him.

Meanwhile, some restaurants have banned tipping while Uber is finally encouraging riders to open their wallets to drivers who go the extra mile.

Now comes new data to add fuel to this fire: Republican men are better tippers than Democrat women, according to a survey released Monday by CreditCards.com. The survey, based on phone interviews with 1,002 adults in the U.S., found that Republicans, men, people who live in the northeast and people paying with credit and debit cards are the most generous tippers all of those groups leave a median tip of 20%. Women tip a median of 16% and Democrats, southerners and cash users tip a median of 15%, the survey found.

See more: Meet the most generous tipper in America

Some of the findings seemed to play out in real life when three supporters of President Donald Trump left a $450 tip for a Washington, D.C. waitress in January, though they were from Texas, not the relatively more generous northeast.

Matt Schulz, a senior analyst with CreditCards.com, pegged the disparity in tipping in different parts of the country to income levels. The more money you have, the more likely you are to leave a little extra on the table at the end of the night, Schulz said. What ties those groups of big tippers together is that they tend to be a little higher income than their counterparts. Its a lot easier to throw a few extra bucks your servers way when you have more expendable income and youre more confident about financial situation.

The survey also looked at which service providers we tip, and found that the ones we interact with the most get the best tips. For example, most people (67%) tip their hair stylists, while only 27% tip their hotel housekeeper. Part of that is about personal connection, Schulz said. If you never interact with someone or you dont see them, you probably wont feel a big need to tip them.

Dont miss: How much to tip everyone

The same pattern seems to happen when people donate money to charities, said Stacy Palmer, editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy, which has researched how Americans give to charities. People who live in areas where they come face-to-face with poverty are generally more generous donors, Palmer said.

If you encounter people in need, youre more likely to give generously, because you see people who need money, Palmer said. Wealthy people in cities versus people who live in gated communities tend to give more.

Also read: Is this the worst tipper in America?

She noted that when it comes to measuring generosity, its not about the dollar amount you give, its about what portion of your income youre giving. Women of all income levels give higher portions of their income to charity than men do, she said. And though men were better restaurant tippers than women, females were more likely than men to tip hotel housekeepers, hair stylists and baristas, the CreditCards.com survey found.

As for how the red-blue split in tipping compares to the political divide in charitable giving, Palmer said the most recent research shows that Republicans give a bigger share of their incomes than Democrats to charity.

But that could shift along with the countrys changing political climate. Palmer said. Democrats surveyed after the 2016 election said they planned to give more to charities. Liberal groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union have seen record donations as their causes have come under threat from Trump administration policies.

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Who are better tippers: Democrats or Republicans? - MarketWatch