Favorability Virtually Same After McCain Speech
Favorability Ratings Virtually Unchanged for both Candidates After Viewing McCain Stump Speech
Flemington, NJ, October 14, 2008 - A new national study among 328 self-reported Democrats, Republicans and Independents, revealed that after viewing segments of a stump speech by John McCain, favorability ratings remained unchanged for both candidates.
The study was conducted by HCD Research and the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion (MCIPO) on October 13, to obtain Americans' perceptions of segments of a stump speech by John McCain, which focuses on the economy.
The speech earned John McCain a Political Communications Impact Score (PCIS) of 11.7 and Barack Obama received a score of 4.1, resulting in a net score of 7.6 for John McCain. The scores can be compared to a mean score of 7.5 for previously tested McCain ads and 8.5 for previously tested Obama ads. To date, the total mean score for all previously tested ads is 8.0.
Favorability ratings for candidates pre/post viewing of the speech:
Obama / Pre / Post
All Responders / 57% / 56%
Democrats / 84% /
84%
Republicans / 17% / 16%
Independents / 69% /
67%
McCain
All Responders / 48% /
50%
Democrats / 18% / 20%
Republicans / 85% /
87%
Independents / 40% / 43%
Emotions Most Felt Among All Parties While Viewing the Speech
• Among political parties, the emotions most felt by Republicans while watching the speech were "inspiration" (58%) and "skepticism" (15%), compared to Democrats, who reported "skepticism" (60%) and "inspiration" (11%) as the emotions most felt. Independents reported "skepticism" (54%) and "inspiration" (20%) as the emotions most felt while watching the speech.
The PCIS is a metric scoring system
designed to gauge the effectiveness of political
communications by generating a score for each candidate to
monitor changes in voter perceptions. The PCIS score is
derived from the change in voters' support and the extent
that the support shifts. To view scores and results of
recent studies go to: http://www2.mediacurves.com/PCIS/
While
viewing the video, participants indicated their levels of
believability by moving their mouse from left to right on a
continuum. The responses were recorded in quarter-second
intervals and reported in the form of curves. The
participants' emotions were measured using the Ayer Emotion
Battery. Participants were also asked pre- and post-viewing
questions To view believability curves and detailed results
go to: www.mediacurves.com.
The Media Curves
web site provides the media and general public with a venue
to view Americans' perceptions of popular and controversial
media events and advertisements.
Editors/Reporters:
For more information on the study, or to speak with Glenn
Kessler, president and CEO, HCD Research or Chris Borick,
Ph.D., director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of
Public Opinion, please contact Vince McGourty, HCD Research,
at (908) 483-9121 or (vince.mcgourty@hcdi.net).
HCD Research is a communications research company headquartered in Flemington, NJ. The company's services include traditional and web-based communications research. For additional information on HCD Research, access the company's web site at www.hcdi.net or call HCD Research at 908-788-9393. Headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania, MCIPO is a respected source of public opinion data on local, state and national issues. For additional information on Muhlenberg College, go to For additional information on Muhlenberg College, go to www.muhlenberg.edu
ENDS