/r/schoolidolfestival actually had a demographics survey back in March themselves that showed they were majority female and that Muse was more popular there. And in lurking the communities, /r/LoveLive has a lot more Australian and East Asian fans (and those in the Americas are usually of Asian descent) that tend to be hooked in through the anime and a sizable number go crazy on the merch, while SIF is composed of more North American fans who primarily play just the game and may not even be aware there's an ecosystem for merch.
In East Asia it's probably firmly seen as being in the realm of anime otaku and as a male interest, while in North America it's not shoehorned into such a rigid category aside from "it's anime, therefore it's weird". That probably explains the demographic splits.
I can't do any birthday scouts for a while because I have no room in the budget for whaling. :'(
Also I suspect Nico is dead last in a lot of people's list and is top 2 in a slightly smaller share of people's lists, as she is VERY polarizing apparently. In my experience, she is
especially unpopular among Maki fans.
... and looking through the thread, I found their data on specifically Hanayo and Nico for placements:
Looks like Nico consistently outperforms Hanayo in appearances in people's top 4, it's just that those who can't stand her, REALLY can't stand her.
Also found a comment with splits by gender:
https://www.reddit.com/r/LoveLive/comments/6qta8l/rlovelive_demographic_survey_results/dl1jf1e/
Dudes just genuinely don't like Nico, wow.
My top 3 in muse are ranked 8, 9, and 1, while my top 3 in Aqours are ranked 3, 4, and 9.
