Clinton and Obama Victory Speeches Have Little Impact on Voters


-- Undecided Voters Decrease Support for Clinton as VP after Viewing Obama Speech --

Flemington, NJ, May 21, 2008
– Two national studies conducted among self-reported Democrats, Republicans and Independents indicated that after viewing segments of Hillary Clinton’s and Barack Obama’s victory speeches there was little impact on voters in support of Senator Clinton or Senator Obama. 
  
The studies were conducted by HCD Research and the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion (MCIPO) earlier today to obtain Americans’ perceptions of video segments of Hillary Clinton’s speech after her victory in Kentucky, and Barack Obama’s speech after his victory in Oregon last night following the primaries.
 
The studies were conducted among 619 participants, with one group of 303 viewing segments of Clinton’s speech and another group of 316 viewing segments of Obama’s speech. While viewing the speeches, participants indicated their levels of agreement 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 agreement curves, go to: www.mediacurves.com.
Among the study findings:
 
Viewers of Obama’s Victory Speech
 
“If Hillary Clinton becomes the Democratic nominee, should she offer the vice presidential spot on the ticket to Barack Obama?”
                                                                                %                                                                             %
Pre          Yes    No   Not Sure                               Post         Yes    No   Not Sure
 
Obama Supporters                               65       20      15                                                         62      23       15
Clinton Supporters                                48        33      19                                                       48      33        19
McCain Supporters                               19       64       17                                                       18      67        14
Undecided                                              32       32       37                                                       32      27        41
 
Viewers of Clinton’s Speech
 
“If Hillary Clinton becomes the Democratic nominee, should she offer the vice presidential spot on the ticket to Barack Obama?”
 
Pre          Yes    No   Not Sure                               Post         Yes    No   Not Sure
 
Obama Supporters                               58      19       23                                                         62      18      19           
Clinton Supporters                                48      42       10                                                        48      39       13
McCain Supporters                               15      74       11                                                        17      74        9
Undecided                                              31      41       28                                                        34      38       28
 
 
 
Viewers of Obama’s Speech
 
“If Barack Obama becomes the Democratic nominee, should he offer the vice presidential spot on the ticket to Hillary Clinton?”
 
Pre          Yes    No   Not Sure                               Post         Yes    No   Not Sure
 
Obama Supporters                              29      53       17                                                          30      53       17
Clinton Supporters                               67      16       16                                                         71      14        15
McCain Supporters                              17      59       24                                                          23      58        19
Undecided                                             29      32       39                                                         20      32        49
 
Viewers of Clinton’s Speech
 
“If Barack Obama becomes the Democratic nominee, should he offer the vice presidential spot on the ticket to Hillary Clinton?”
 
Pre          Yes    No   Not Sure                               Post         Yes    No   Not Sure
 
Obama Supporters                                 23      56       22                                                       23      59       18
Clinton Supporters                                 64      19       17                                                       65      16        19
McCain Supporters                                11      74       15                                                       15      74        11
Undecided                                               22      56       22                                                       25      50        25
 
 
Emotions Felt Most While Viewing Clinton Speech
 
When asked to select the emotions they felt most strongly while viewing Clinton’s speech from a list of emotions, Obama supporters reported that “skeptical”(33%) and “irritated” (29%) were the strongest emotions felt, compared to Clinton supporters who indicated “hopeful” (52%) and “confident” (14%) were the strongest emotions felt. McCain supporters reported feeling “skeptical” (32%) and “irritated” (24%), and Undecideds reported feeling “skeptical” (25%) and “attentive” (22%), as the strongest emotions felt while viewing the speech.
 
Emotions Felt Most While Viewing Obama Speech
 
When asked to select the emotions they felt most strongly while viewing Obama speech from a list of emotions, Obama supporters reported that “hopeful”(46%) and “excited” (20%) were the strongest emotions felt, compared to Clinton supporters who indicated “attentive” (25%) and “skeptical” (23%) were the strongest emotions felt. McCain supporters reported feeling “skeptical” (41%) and “irritated” (33%), and Undecideds reported feeling “skeptical” (32%) and “attentive” (27%), as the strongest emotions felt while viewing the speech.
 
 
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; 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).