Flemington, NJ, March 30, 2009 – A new national study among 308 self-reported Democrats, Republicans and Independents revealed that the majority of respondents felt skeptical while watching President Obama’s speech on March 27.

The study was conducted by HCD Research on March 27 to obtain Americans’ perceptions of President Obama’s plan to increase U.S. support in Pakistan and Afghanistan in order to defeat Al Qaeda.

Among political parties, Democrats reported that “pride” was the emotion they felt most while viewing the speech, compared to Republicans and Independents who reported that “skepticism” was the emotion most felt while viewing the speech.

“According to Glenn Kessler, president and CEO, HCD Research, there was a slight disagreement among political parties when Obama said: “…and to the terrorists that oppose us, my message is the same. We will defeat you.”  “When looking at the believability curves, the Democrats seemed to believe the statement, while there was a slight dip in believability among Republicans and Independents, specifically when he said we will defeat you,” explained Kessler.

Among the findings:

“Which of the following emotions did you feel the most while viewing the speech? Please select one emotion you felt most.”

While viewing the video clip, 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 were also post-viewing questions.

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, please contact Vince McGourty, HCD Research, at (908) 483-9121 or (vince.mcgourty@hcdi.net).