Flemington, NJ, October 6, 2008 – A new national study among 307 self-reported Democrats, Republicans and Independents revealed that after viewing an anti-McCain ad produced by Brave New PAC and Democracy for America, two political action committees, support for McCain paradoxically slightly increased.

The study was conducted by HCD Research and the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion (MCIPO) on October 3, to obtain Americans’ perceptions of a new ad by Brave New PAC and Democracy for America, which focused on McCain’s past and current health conditions and questioned his ability to lead. 

The ad earned Barack Obama a Political Communications Impact Score (PCIS) of 8.7 while John McCain received a score of 15.2, resulting in a net score of 6.5 for John McCain. The scores can be compared to a mean score of 9.4 for previously tested Obama ads and 7.4 for previously tested McCain ads.  To date, the total mean score for all previously tested ads is 8.4.

Among the Findings:

Favorability for Candidates Pre/Post Viewing of the Ad:

Emotions Most Felt Among All Parties While Viewing the Ad

• Among political parties, the emotions most felt by Republicans while watching the ad were “anger” (28%),“disturbed” (26%) and “sad” (20%), compared to Democrats, who reported “disturbed” (44%), “sad” (17%) and “skeptical” (17%) as the emotions most felt. Independents reported “disturbed” (34%) “angry” (20%) and “sad” (17%), as the emotions most felt while watching the ad.

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