getting down to what matters: feeling up the candidates
http://www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=28639
September 07, 2007
Gallup Ranks the 2008 Candidates According to a Feeling Thermometer
Obama rated the most positively by Americans; Hillary enjoys broadest
partisan support
by Lydia Saad GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ — Using a “feeling thermometer” rating scale, Gallup
recently tested the public images of several of the Republican and
Democratic candidates running for president in their respective
parties. Of these, only one — Barack Obama — stirs up warm feelings
in a majority of Americans. However, Rudy Giuliani, Hillary Clinton,
John Edwards, and John McCain are all close to Obama in favorability.
Clinton’s image is the most polarized of this group: nearly as many
Americans say she leaves them cold as say they feel warmly toward her.
This feeling thermometer question, utilized regularly by the National
Election Studies, gives respondents a 0 to 100 scale to rate the
candidates, where 0 is the coldest score, 100 is the warmest, and 50
is neither warm nor cold. Thus, it not only shows whether a
respondent views a candidate positively or negatively, but also the
degree to which he or she does so.
According to the Aug. 23-26, 2007, Gallup Panel survey, all five top-
reviewed candidates are known well enough by Americans that nearly
everyone can rate them. By contrast, the bottom tier candidates –
those with much lower “warm” thermometer scores — are unknown to a
large segment of Americans.
[…]
[feeling thermometer means]
Barack Obama (Dem.) 55.6 Rudy Giuliani (Rep.) 53.1 Fred Thompson (Rep.) 52.0 John McCain (Rep.) 51.2 John Edwards (Dem.) 50.9 Mike Huckabee (Rep.) 49.8 Hillary Clinton (Dem.) 48.7 Bill Richardson (Dem.) 48.7 Mitt Romney (Rep.) 48.0 Joe Biden (Dem.) 46.6 Sam Brownback (Rep.) 44.7
Dems on Dems
Hillary Clinton 71.6 Barack Obama 69.1 John Edwards 64.3 Joe Biden 54.0 Bill Richardson 53.1
Reps on Reps
Fred Thompson 66.3 Rudy Giuliani 64.4 Mike Huckabee 62.5 Mitt Romney 60.2 John McCain 59.0 Sam Brownback 53.0
If you had to choose, which of the following presidential candidates
would you most want to have dinner with?
total Reps Inds Dems
Hillary Clinton 26 8 22 47 Barack Obama 20 10 20 31 Rudy Giuliani 16 27 18 3 Fred Thompson 12 22 13 3 John McCain 9 16 8 4 John Edwards 9 3 11 12 Mitt Romney 6 12 4 -
No opinion 2 3 2 1