Emotional Linkages May Tell who Wins Edwards, Giuliani Supporters

Clinton, McCain Connect Strongest Emotionally with Voters
APCO Brand Research Model Applied to Presidential Candidates

Washington, D.C. (February 1, 2008) – Presidential candidates Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. John McCain outperform the other candidates of their respective political parties in building emotional connections with voters according to a new study released today by the global communication consulting firm APCO Worldwide.

Emotional Factors^©, a brand relationship model, measured the emotional relationship that voters have with the candidates of this year’s U.S. presidential election. The research was fielded between January 19 and 24, 2008 by APCO Insight^®, APCO’s research arm.

"Polling in the early primaries can tell part of the story. But pollsters and prognosticators deal in the realm of issues and logic. Understanding emotional connections can sometimes tell a larger story,” said Mark Benson, president, APCO Insight. “We decided to deconstruct the emotional drivers that explain the relationship voters have with candidates in the same way we think about the emotional connections that consumers have with brands.”

The national study, taken immediately after the New Hampshire primary, revealed that Sen. Clinton produced stronger emotional connections with Democrats than any other Democratic candidate across most demographic groups, including men and women. On the Republican side, Sen. McCain demonstrated a much stronger emotional connection with Republican voters than his GOP rivals.

The data show that supporters of former Sen. John Edwards, who dropped out of the race Wednesday but was in when the research was conducted, do not have a strong emotional connection to either Sen. Clinton or Sen. Barack Obama. However, “Obama has slightly stronger emotional links among Edwards' supporters, but is essentially in a statistical dead heat with Clinton. Edwards’ supporters do not yet have a strong emotional bond to either of the remaining Democratic candidates," said Bryan Dumont, APCO Insight senior vice president.

"On the GOP side, Giuliani's supporters have much stronger emotional connections to Sen. McCain than any of the other GOP candidates - particularly on Warmth, Trust and Pride,” said Dumont. Giuliani pulled out of the race Wednesday.

“Among both Democratic and Republican likely voters, Relevance is the most important emotional driver which gives the sense that the candidate ‘fits who I am’ and ‘speaks to me.’ As a deciding factor in how to vote, Republican voters are slightly more driven by Pride in their candidates than Democratic voters,” said Dumont.

Emotional Factors is a quantitative research tool for measuring the nine core emotions that define the relationship that consumers have with brands. Based on years of research with the advertising community, Emotional Factors isolates the ideas that consistently correlate with one another to define nine distinct emotions that describe consumer relationships with brands. Emotional Factors allows brand communicators to isolate the emotional drivers most likely to produce consumer outcomes, such as purchase intent and recommending the brand to others. The nine emotional factors are Approachability, Curiosity, Empowerment, Familiarity, Identification, Pride, Relevance, Trust and Warmth^©.

"The data also indicate that Democratic primary voters are more emotional in their decision-making process than Republicans – although the emotional connections between voters and candidates play a significant role in both fields,” said Dumont.

APCO Insight conducted the study of the 2008 U.S. presidential candidates among a random sample of 1,524 likely primary voters in both Democratic and Republican primaries (843 likely Democratic primary voters; 681 likely Republican primary voters). The study was conducted using an interactive, online questionnaire. A random sample of the U.S. general public sampled in proportion to U.S. Census data on key demographic characteristics were invited to take the survey and screen to determine likelihood of voting in either the Democratic or Republican primary or caucus in their state. Eligible respondents completed a 30-minute interactive survey which includes more than 50 discrete variables to measure the emotional relationship with candidates. The data were analyzed using APCO’s proprietary analytic model to assess the emotional relationship people have with brands.

About the Study

For more information on the study and to download the full results, please visit www.apcoworldwide.com/emotionalfactors.

About APCO Worldwide

Founded in 1984, APCO Worldwide is an independently owned global communication consultancy with offices in major cities throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. APCO was named 2006 Agency of the Year by PRWeek; 2007, 2006 and 2005 European Consultancy of the Year by Public Affairs News; and 2004 Public Affairs Agency of the Year by The Holmes Report. Clients include corporations, governments, industry associations and nonprofit organizations. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., APCO includes among its clients seven of the top 10 companies on Fortune’s Global 500. Core services include corporate, investor and internal communication; crisis management; issue management; government relations; litigation communication; media relations; coalition building; opinion research; market entry; corporate responsibility and online communication. APCO is a majority women-owned business. APCO is non-partisan and unaffiliated with any of the presidential candidates or campaigns. For more information, please visit www.apcoworldwide.com.

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Contacts:
Sarah S. Goins
+1.202.778.1260
sgoins@apcoworldwide.com

Megan Carpenter
+1.202.651.1574
mcarpenter@apcoworldwide.com

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