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SpeakOut.com Delivers Results of Instant Viewer Response Analysis: Independents Waver On Abortion and Anti-Clinton Remarks

PHILADELPHIA, PA – August 4, 2000 - The jury of pundits is still out on the long-term impact of George W. Bush’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, but it was well-received by 500 voters participating in the SpeakOut.com/MSNBC Internet instant poll, says Democratic polling expert Peter D. Hart.

Television viewers were able to deliver their opinions on the convention speakers in real-time by logging on to MSNBC.com and using SpeakOut’s patent-pending online "Ntercept™ Dial Poll" technology. Results for the 500 participants were weighted to reflect the current national averages for gender, political ideology, voting intentions, and age.

Pollster Peter Hart, working with Speakout.com, analyzed the results from the online poll of Bush’s speech and stated, “The speech got an A plus from Republicans. Independents were more likely to evaluate it as a good speech, solid in overall themes, but the attacks on Clinton and Gore, and particularly on Bush’s position on abortion, were especially troublesome to female voters who were either Independent or undecided. Not surprisingly, Democrats overall dialed low scores for Bush.”

Republicans strongly supported the speech delivered by Bush, giving him an impressive overall score of 79. Rarely did opinions drop below 75. Bush hit home runs with Republicans on taxes, national defense, and on his inspirational call for elevation of the nation’s character. They liked his attacks on the current administration and his challenges to the status quo, and they stayed with him from start to end.

With Independents, the marks were mixed. Bush’s overall score was 51, reflecting the average of highs and lows with the group of voters who ultimately will decide this election. On the high side, Bush scored well with these key swing voters when he stated that every man and woman must have a chance to succeed. On the issues of education and taxes, Independents in the dial group rallied to his side. When Bush talked about values for the nation and the importance of responsibility, his voice resonated with these voters. However, when it came to the issue of abortion, Independents, particularly women, turned thumbs down. Even more dramatically, undecided women voters gave the anti-abortion language low ratings. Bush also lost Independents when he attacked Clinton and Gore. Here the politics of negativism turned off these people in the middle.

The average score Democrats gave Bush's speech was only 37, but there were parts of his speech that reached across partisan lines, particularly when he talked about character and the nation’s destiny.

For complete results of Thursday night's SpeakOut.com/MSNBC Internet Dial Poll of George W. Bush's acceptance speech, link here: http://www.speakout.com/resultsroom/thursday/ george_w_bush/results.asp.

About the MSNBC/SpeakOut.com Viewer Response Room: The results of this poll reflect the average opinions of convention watchers who choose to participate in the online, Internet research project. Participants watched the live broadcast of convention proceedings and registered their moment-to-moment reactions using a 0-to-100 scale where zero indicated a very unfavorable reaction, and 100 indicated a very favorable reaction. Although the participants in the Viewer Response Room are not a scientific sample of all American voters, the average results were weighted to reflect the national party identification and gender of all voters.

About SpeakOut.com

Based in Washington, DC, SpeakOut.com (www.speakout.com) is America’s leading non-partisan Internet activism Web site and online opinion research company. Launched in February 2000, SpeakOut.com’s primary mission is to enhance the democratic process by enabling citizens to have a direct impact on the decisions that affect their lives. Users enjoy a wide variety of news and information tailored to their interests and activism tools allowing aggregated messaging to a vast array of public officeholders, candidates, business and news executives.

About Hart Research

Peter D. Hart Research Associates is one of the leading survey research firms in the United States. Now in its 27^th year of operation, the firm has conducted well over 5,000 public opinion surveys and has administered and analyzed interviews among more than two and a half million individuals in that time. Hart Research also has undertaken nearly 2,000 focus group sessions.

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