Unprecedented Voter Research Project on Voter Attitudes and Political Media Influences

11/11/2002

From: Rabinowitz Media, 202-265-3000

News Advisory:

An unprecedented new national survey tracking voter attitudes leading up to and including Election Day will be unveiled Wednesday, November 13 at 9:30 am at the National Press Club. The national project measured the influences on voter attitudes of "political media" (such as news coverage, television and radio ads, mailings, auto-calls, etc.). It provides the most comprehensive data on voter attitudes before and after they cast their votes on Election Day across the nation and in four critical Senate and House races.

Four prominent national pollsters and a team of academics from the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy (CSED) at Brigham Young University will assess voters' reactions to being caught in the congressional campaign equivalent of "The Perfect Storm." What tactics did campaigns use this year to reach voters? How did voters cope with political information when the political floodgates opened and they were bombarded with appeals from candidates, parties, and interest groups? The event is open to the media and coverage is invited.

The experts will discuss voter perceptions of the campaign media blitz leading up to Election Day and how voters formulated their ultimate election decisions. With the Election Night breakdown of Voter News Service (VNS) resulting in a paucity of post-election data, the CSED study provides critical data of voter attitudes this year that is otherwise unavailable. Survey data collected by CSED in a national panel survey leading up to and including Election Day, as well as similar studies in the Arkansas and Missouri Senate races and the Colorado 7th and Connecticut 5th congressional districts, will be presented and discussed. In addition, each pollster will add insights on the 2002 campaign.

"Voter perceptions, in this age of multimedia campaigning, are just beginning to be explored," says CSED Director Dr. David Magleby. "With the media saturation that enveloped the nation this election cycle, it is imperative that we take a close look at how voters formed their decisions. With the collapse of the Voter News Service on election day, this research is the closest thing we have to a national exit poll."

The CSED panel study involved the initial participation of 1,000 registered voters nationally and another 1,000 registered voters each in Arkansas and Missouri and in Connecticut's 5th and Colorado's 7th Congressional Districts. All were surveyed over the phone in early September. In late October, these very same respondents were contacted again, this time resulting in 600 second-wave interviews per survey. On election night, the sample was contacted yet again, and resulted in 500 completed interviews. The identical survey instruments focused on campaign communications received by voters and how this barrage of information affected the survey respondents' voting decisions. It also assessed what sources respondents relied on for trusted information in the midst of such a "perfect storm."

Event participants will include Republican pollsters Linda DiVall, whose clients included Senator-elect Jim Talent (MO) and Rep. Nancy Johnson (CT-5); Ed Goeas, whose clients included Governor-elect Sonny Perdue (GA) and Bob Beauprez who is involved in the contentious CO-7 House race. Also joining in the panel will be Democratic pollsters Mark Mellman, whose clients included Governor-elect Jennifer Granholm (MI) and Senator-elect Frank Lautenberg (NJ); and Fred Yang, whose clients included Senator Jean Carnahan (MO) and Senator Max Cleland (GA). The BYU Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy will be represented by Director David Magleby and Quin Monson.

WHAT: Campaign 2002: "The Perfect Storm"

WHEN: Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2002, 9:30-11:30 a.m.

WHERE: National Press Club, Holeman Lounge