American Idol “Voted Off” Wrong Contestants

National Study Reveals American Idol “Voted Off” Wrong Contestants

-- American Idol eliminations contradict viewers’ choices due to flawed methodology --

Flemington, NJ, March 12, 2010 – A series of national studies conducted among 6,727 American Idol viewers revealed that the contestants who were “voted off” during the show’s elimination last night did not accurately reflect the viewers’ choices.

During last night’s show, Katelyn Epperly, Todrick Hall, Lilly Scott and Alex Lambert were eliminated from the competition. In contrast, viewers participating in the national Idol Democracy study, which employs a “one person, one vote” system, reported that Aaron Kelly, Lacey Brown, Todrick Hall, and Katelyn Epperly were the contestants who should actually have been eliminated from the competition last night.

The Idol Democracy study was conducted during March 9-11, by HCD Research using its mediacurves.com website, to obtain American Idol viewers’ perceptions of which contestants should be eliminated on the March 11 results show. HCD Research is conducting a series of studies among a nationally representative sample of Americans, which parallel American Idol voting to determine the weekly winners based on a democratic, “one person, one vote” methodology.

The American Idol voting methodology allows viewers to vote multiple times for multiple contestants. However, the Idol Democracy study only allows viewers to vote one time for one contestant. To view detailed results visit: www.mediacurves.com/americanidol/idoldemocracy

Among the findings:

Respondents were asked to pick the one contestant that they thought should advance to the next round of the competition:

Contestants:

The Women % that voted for contestant to move on

Crystal Bowersox 35.9

Siobhan Magnus 12.1

Lilly Scott 9.9

Katie Stevens 9.3

Didi Benami 9.2

Paige Miles 8.3

Lacey Brown 8.1

Katelyn Epperly 7.3

Contestants:

The Men % that voted for contestant to move on

Michael Lynche 24.2

Casey James 15.7

Tim Urban 14.6

Alex Lambert 14.4

Lee Dewyze 11.0

Andrew Garcia 7.8

Aaron Kelly 7.2

Todrick Hall 5.1

ENDS