Flemington, NJ, May 6, 2010 – A series of national studies conducted among 8,309 American Idol viewers revealed that the contestant who was “voted off” during the show’s elimination last night did accurately reflect the viewers’ choice.

During last night’s show, Aaron Kelly was eliminated from the competition.  This was consistent with results reported by viewers participating in the national Idol Democracy study, which employs a “one person, one vote” system, who also thought that Kelly should have been eliminated from the competition last night.  However, while American Idol reported that the other contestant in the bottom two was Michael Lynche, the Idol Democracy study found Casey James to be the second lowest ranked contestant, receiving only 13.8% of the votes.

The Idol Democracy study was conducted during May 4-5, by HCD Research using its mediacurves.com website, to obtain American Idol viewers’ perceptions of which contestant should be eliminated on the April 28 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  

To register for weekly Idol Democracy studies go to: https://www.hcdsurveys.com/panel/join.cfm?source=idol2010

Among the findings:

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

Editors/Reporters: For more information on the study, or to speak with Glenn Kessler, president and CEO, HCD Research, please contact Vince McGourty, HCD Research, at (908) 483-9121 or (vince.mcgourty@hcdi.net).  You can also receive updates from MediaCurves.com by following us on Twitter:  http://twitter.com/mediacurves and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Flemington-NJ/MediaCurves/86691908820

HCD Research is a marketing and communications research company headquartered in Flemington, NJ.  The company's services include traditional and web-based 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.  MediaCurves.com® (www.mediacurves.com) is a media measurement website that provides the media and general public with a venue to view Americans’ perceptions of popular and controversial media events and advertisements.