Results of Boomer Campaign Track Give First Glimpse into Boomers’ Political Attitudes as 2008 Presidential Race Intensifies

Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston — July 25, 2007 — Eons™, the media company for lovin' life on the flipside of 50™, announced today that it has created the Eons Campaign Central destination site to bring 2008 presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, Barack Obama, John McCain, John Edwards and others together in a single forum oriented around the passions and political activism of baby boomers. In addition to candidate profiles within the Eons social network, the Eons Campaign Central microsite (www.eons.com/election08) will feature political discussions, slideshows, trivia games and a candidate matchup game.

The political microsite launch coincides with the release of the Eons Boomer Campaign Track, a 50-plus survey of the political motivations of the most politically energized generation in America.

“The top candidates in the 2008 presidential race have created presences on Eons because they know that the boomer generation has always fought its political battles by mobilizing behind their political beliefs, and the ballot box is their weapon of choice,” said Jeff Taylor, founder and CEO of Eons. “This is the generation that cut its political teeth on the statesmanship of John F. Kennedy and that took to the streets to support the Civil Rights Act. As the 2008 campaign heats up, boomers are turning into Web activists, and eons.com is where they’re learning about the candidates and then joining ongoing discussions about the issues that mean most to the nation.”

Among the findings of the Eons Boomer Campaign Track of more than 4,500 Eons members:

• Asked, “If the election were held next week, who would most likely get your vote,” 46 percent said they would vote for the Democrat, while 36 said the Republican.
• Asked to select a Republican candidate they could see themselves voting for, regardless of party affiliation, 18 percent said Fred Thompson, 15 percent said Rudy Giuliani, 8 percent said John McCain and 7 percent said Mitt Romney.
• Asked to select a Democratic candidate they could see themselves voting for, regardless of party affiliation, 18 percent said Hillary Clinton, 15 percent said Barack Obama, 9 percent said Bill Richardson, and 8 percent cast votes for Al Gore and John Edwards.
• Asked to predict the primary election outcomes, Eons members said Hillary Clinton (58 percent) would defeat Barack Obama (22 percent) and Rudy Giuliani (36 percent) would beat Fred Thompson (26 percent).
• Asked to predict the party of the next occupant of the White House, Eons members said the Democrat (64 percent) would defeat the Republican (32 percent).
• The most trusted news personality was Bill O’Reilly of Fox News, who was listed as most-trusted by 13 percent of respondents. Trailing O’Reilly were Brian Williams of NBC Nightly News, 9 percent, Charles Gibson of ABC World News Tonight, 9 percent, and Sean Hannity of Fox News, 9 percent; on the low end were Katie Couric of CBS Evening News, 3 percent, and Oprah Winfrey, 2 percent.
• The major political parties were represented about equally, with 38 percent of respondents registering as Democrats, 36 percent as Republicans. Nineteen percent reported they were not affiliated with a political party and 8 percent were registered as members of other parties.
• Almost 80 percent of respondents are already following the campaign closely or somewhat closely.

The Eons Boomer Campaign Track revealed that the Internet is shattering the conventional media channels that have historically linked voters to political news and are bringing candidates closer to voters.

• The Internet (21 percent) is where more respondents turn for their political news than newspapers and magazines (17 percent), radio talk shows (10 percent), TV talk shows (7 percent) or TV debates (6 percent). Only TV news (32 percent) outranked the Internet.
• When asked which print publication they trusted most, 40 percent replied “none,” while 10 percent trusted The New York Times, about the same number that trusted The Washington Post.
• More than two-thirds of respondents (68 percent) said they had visited a candidate’s Web site, and 66 percent said they had received e-mail from a candidate. Eighteen percent reported that they had donated to a candidate online, and 4 percent had added a candidate as a “friend” on a social networking site.

“The boomers are more politically engaged online than their kids,” said Don McLagan, CEO of online market research firm Compete, Inc., an Eons partner. Compete compiled its data from the industry’s largest database of consumer behavior online. “People 45 and older spent, on average, 9 percent more time viewing the sites of Giuliani, McCain and Romney, though Romney’s performance heavily skewed the average, with older visitors spending 31 percent longer on his site than did younger visitors. Among Democrats, the margin was narrower but still noticeable; 45-plus Web visitors spent about 2 percent more time on the sites of Clinton, Edwards and Obama than their younger counterparts.”

Said Taylor, “Eons knows that 50-plus adults are obsessed with politics. More than 75 percent of citizens in that age group are registered to vote, and 9 out of 10 of those registered voters actually cast a ballot during the 2004 presidential election, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. This is the first presidential election in which the Web will play such a pivotal role in electing a president, whether it means enabling candidates to become part of people’s social networks, raising money or debating the issues. The Eons Campaign Central microsite is squarely in the middle of the action.”

NOTE: The results of the Eons Boomer Campaign Track were compiled from more than 4,500 50-plus respondents as of July 13, 2007. The survey can be viewed at http://question.eons.com/survey/welcome/8.

About Eons™

Eons is a 50-plus media company inspiring a generation of boomers to live the biggest life possible. Founded by Jeff Taylor, creator of Monster.com, Eons has attracted a team of renowned advisors and industry-leading partners and is backed by venture capital financing from General Catalyst Partners, Sequoia Capital, Charles River Ventures and Intel Capital, as well as Humana, Inc. It is supported by corporate founding partners Harrah’s Entertainment, Hyatt Corp., Humana, Inc., Liberty Mutual Group, Fidelity and Verizon Wireless. Eons is headquartered in Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston. For more information about Eons media, visit www.eons.com.