JULY 25, 2007
Republicans and Democrats are evenly represented in the Eons Boomer Campaign Track , a 50-plus survey of the political motivations of the most politically energized generation in America.
But, despite the balance of political views, the poll predicts an easy win, 64-32 percent, for the Democratic candidate for president. And right now that would be Hillary Clinton, who leads all Democrats in the Eons poll.
More than 4,500 people took the survey through July 13, 2007, when these numbers were gathered. The results are being released today with the launch of the new Eons Campaign Central web site that features profiles of the candidates, videos and slideshows, groups, blogs and more.
Some highlights of the survey:
- Of those who have taken the survey, 38% are registered Democrats, 36% are registered Republicans, 8% are registered with other parties, and 19% are not registered with any political party.
- 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).
- Asked to identify the news personality they trusted most, 13 percent chose Bill O'Reilly of Fox News. Trailing O'Reilly were Brian Williams of NBC Nightly News, 9 percent, Charles Gibson of ABC World News Tonight, 9 percent, Sean Hannity of Fox News, 9 percent, Rush Limbaugh, 8 percent, Jim Lehrer of PBS, 7 percent, John Stewart, "The Daily Show," 7 percent, Anderson Cooper of CNN, 5 percent, Wolff Blitzer of CNN, 4 percent, Katie Couric of CBS Evening News, 3 percent, and Oprah Winfrey, 2 percent. Ten percent chose "other" and 15 percent said "none."
- The major political parties were represented about equally, with 38 percent of respondents registering as Democrats, 36 percent as Republicans and 19 percent as unaffiliated with a political party.
- Almost 80 percent of respondents are already following the campaign closely or somewhat closely.
- 30% say their political loyalty (though not necessarily their political affiliation) has changed in the last 7 years.
Election 2008 and the Internet
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.
