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Flemington, NJ September 12, 2008 – A new national focus group among 312 self-reported Democrats, Republicans and Independents, revealed that after viewing the new McCain “sex education” ad, the level of voter support increased for both candidates.
The study was conducted by HCD Research and the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion (MCIPO) during September 11-12 to obtain Americans’ perceptions of a new ad by John McCain, which claims that Barack Obama supports comprehensive sex education programs for kindergarten students.
“This ad is targeted at the emotions of a certain segment of voters, and while it is somewhat effective among that segment, among all voters it is ineffective, unlike issue- oriented ads, which have proven to be more effective at moving voter support in this cycle,” commented Glenn Kessler, president and CEO, HCD Research.
Among the study findings:
Among independents who reported that they were leaning toward McCain prior to viewing the ad, there was a decrease in support of 8% for McCain
Before viewing the ad, 51% of responders who indicated they were leaning toward Obama said they were “definitely” voting for him. After viewing the ad, 57% of this segment indicated they were definitely voting for Obama. This suggests that the ad strengthened support for Obama among a segment of independents.
The ad earned John McCain a Political Communications Impact Score (PCIS) of 11.8 and Barack Obama received a score of 6.9, resulting in a net score of 4.9 for John McCain. The scores can be compared to a mean score of 9.9 for previously tested Obama ads and 7.7 for previously tested McCain ads. To date, the total mean score for all previously tested ads is 8.7.
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://www.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 www.muhlenberg.edu
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