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Wednesday, 21 January, 2009 0:15 AM
Americans' Confidence Level
Increases Regarding Nation's Issues After Obama's Inauguration Speech
Americans
more hopeful; Republicans more confident economy will improve
Photo
credit: www.depauw.edu
U.S.
President Barack Obama
FLEMINGTON,
N.J. -- A study conducted among 1,819 self-reported Democrats,
Republicans and Independents revealed that the majority of Americans
are more confident that the key issues facing the nation will improve
during the next four years after viewing President Barack Obama's
inauguration speech.
The study was conducted by HCD Research on January 20 to obtain
Americans' perceptions of President Barack Obama and what effect
his presidency will have on the nation's critical issues, including
the economy, health care, education, the war in Iraq and energy
supply and creation.
Participants
were asked to respond the questions before and after viewing the
inauguration speech to determine if their perceptions changed after
viewing the speech. Participants were also asked to rate Barack
Obama based on 8 leadership attributes. To view detailed results,
visit: www.mediacurves.com.
Among
the findings:
After the
speech, 51% of Republicans were confident that the economy would
improve over the next four years compared to 38% before watching
the speech. Democrats were more confident with regard to the issue
of Iraq. There was an increase of 17% of Democrats who believed
that the issue of the war in Iraq would improve in the next presidency
after watching the inauguration speech.
Republicans'
perception of President Obama's leadership also improved after the
inauguration speech. Participants were asked to rate President Obama
on an agreement scale based on 8 leadership attributes before and
after watching the inauguration speech. Republicans increased their
level of agreement for every leadership attribute after viewing
the speech. The highest increases were seen in the following attributes:
"Obama is firm and consistent in his views" (increase
of 15%), "Obama is representing my values (increase of 14%)
and "Obama is honest" (increase of 13%).
Participants'
emotions were also measured while viewing the speech. The emotion
that was felt the most by viewers during the inauguration speech
was hopefulness. Hopefulness was the top emotion felt by Democrats
(68%), Republicans (36%), as well as Independents (57%). Democrats
and Independents also reported that they felt confident and attentive,
while Republicans reported that they felt some skepticism.
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.
Source:
HCD Research
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