Words most commonly describing each candidate

Pew Research Center Surveys ^ | Sept 18, 2008 | (various)

[CardCarryingMember.VastRightWC]

WORD ASSOCIATION: Buried deep in the latest Pew survey of 2500+ voters are 4 lists, one per candidate, of the most common descriptive words used for each of them. I especially got a chuckle out of Biden's list!

[CardCarryingMember.VastRightWC]

JOHN MCCAIN: Top One-Word Impressions, descending order:

• 58: Old
• 34: Patriot
• 28: Bush/Bush-like
• 25: Experienced
• 21: Honest
• 18: Conservative
• 17: Hero
• 16: Leader/Leadership
• 14: Strong
• 11: Good
• 10: Integrity
• 9: Maverick
• 9: Trust/Trustworthy
• 9: Same
• 8: Honor/Honorable
• 8: Qualified
• 8: Republican
• 7: Courage/Courageous
• 7: Lies/Liar
• 6: Dedicated
• 5: Fair
• 5: Moderate
• 5: Veteran
• 4: American
• 4: Loyal
• 4: Military
• 4: Dishonest
• 4: Liberal
• 4: Old-fashioned/Old-school
• 4: Out of touch
• 4: Politician
• 4: Tired

SARAH PALIN: Top One-Word Impressions, descending order:

• 24: Inexperienced
• 18: Conservative
• 18: Strong
• 16: Fresh/Refreshing
• 16: Interesting
• 11: Good
• 11: Great
• 11: Unknown
• 10: Smart
• 9: Aggressive
• 9: New
• 8: Confident
• 8: Energetic
• 8: Honest
• 8: Impressive
• 6: Dynamic
• 6: Unqualified
• 5: Feisty
• 5: Likable/Like her
• 5: Intelligent
• 5: Female/Woman
• 4: Amazing
• 4: Excellent
• 4: Hot
• 4: False
• 4: Phony

BARACK OBAMA: Top One-Word Impressions, descending order:

• 55: Inexperienced
• 36: Change
• 20: Intelligent/Intellectual
• 20: Young/Youthful
• 15: Charismatic
• 14: New
• 12: Liberal
• 12: Energetic/Energy
• 12: Hope/Hopeful
• 10: Honest
• 9: Scary
• 9: Fresh
• 8: Different
• 7: Unqualified
• 7: Enthusiastic
• 6: Liar
• 6: Socialist
• 6: Committed
• 6: Good
• 6: Innovative
• 6: Inspiring/Inspiration
• 5: Dishonest
• 5: Fake
• 5: Phony
• 5: Leader
• 5: Unknown
• 4: Arrogant
• 4: Opportunist
• 4: Idealist
• 4: Interesting
• 4: Uncertain
• (Words like Terrorist, Visionary, Articulate, Refreshing fell below the cut line since the last surveys)

JOE BIDEN: Top One-Word Impressions, descending order:

• 48: Experienced
• 14: Liberal
• 12: Old
• 11: Arrogant
• 10: Unknown
• 10: Knowledgeable
• 8: Confident
• 8: Qualified
• 8: Strong
• 7: Honest
• 7: Intelligent
• 6: Politician
• 5: Idiot
• 5: OK
• 5: Old-school/Old-guard
• 5: Unimpressive/Unimpressed
• 4: Who?
• 4: Socialist
• 4: Alright
• 4: Good
• 4: Interesting

[KarlInOhio]

SARAH PALIN: Top One-Word Impressions, descending order:
24: Inexperienced

BARACK OBAMA: Top One-Word Impressions, descending order:
55: Inexperienced

D'oh! So much for the Dems pushing the Palin is inexperienced meme.

[CardCarryingMember.VastRightWC]

My favorites for Biden are "idiot" and "Who?"

ROTFL!

[SuperSonic]

It’s not Obama’s inexperience that I’m concerned with, it’s the experience he’s had with Marxists that concerns me.

[gorush]

The average age of a republic will increase after the age of the US is factored in, but only just barely.

[Sundog]

How come ‘Potty-mouthed’ isn’t a choice under Obama?

[ken21]

yes! you’re right.

that caught my eye too.

[RocketMan1]

Where did “Closet Muslim” rate for Obamalamadingdong?

[proudtobeanamerican1]

They left off Muslim on the Obama list.

[proudtobeanamerican1]

They left off Muslim on the Obama list.

[Daffynition]

Great post!

Left off Palin’s list: Alaskan American

[irv]

Words that should have been on the list:

1. John McCain: Unreliable
2. Sarah Palin: Magnificent
3. Barack Obama: Dangerous
4. Joe Biden: Wackjob

But that's just me. I'm sure other people have their own opinions.

[taraytarah]

How come ‘Potty-mouthed’ isn’t a choice under Obama?

They also left out Anti-American, Delusional, Egomaniac, Baby-killer, and Bumbling Idiot.

[patriot08]

Obama:
Marxist
Muslim
Liar
Arrogant
A$$hole
Baby-killer
B*stard (literally)
Anti-America
Anti-white

[CardCarryingMember.VastRightWC]

If you go to the link, you'll see the results from this poll and the previous two polls in table format. In the February poll, there were 4 mentions of "Muslim".

What's also encouraging is that mentions of Obama's "Inexperience" keep rising with each new poll.

[US34]

Well, I did a little spread sheet, and the commentary numbers look like this:

McCain Positives: 190
McCain Negatives: 77
McCain Neutrals: 107
McCain Totals: 374

Palin Positives: 123
Palin Negatives: 38
Palin Neutrals: 68
Palin Totals: 229

Barack Obama Positives: 134
Barack Obama Negatives: 100
Barack Obama Neutrals: 93
Barack Obama Totals: 327

Joe Biden Positives: 114
Joe Biden Negatives: 23
Joe Biden Neutrals: 52
Joe Biden Totals: 189

GOP Positives: 313
DEM Positives: 248

GOP Negatives: 115
DEM Negatives: 123

GOP Neutrals: 175
DEM Neutrals: 145

GOP Totals: 603
DEM Totals: 516

Here are the terms I considered as “neutral”:

Bush Bush-like

Conservative, Liberal, Moderate, Socialist, Idealist

Maverick, Politician, Fair, Old Fashioned, Old School-Guard

Republican, American, Veteran, Military, Female, Woman

Interesting, Unknown, New, Same

Change, Different, Unknown, Uncertain, OK, Alright

(Others may have a different take on the neutral terms)

[TheNewPundit]

“My favorites for Biden are “idiot” and “Who?””

We got into a 5 minutes political talk at work Friday. This girl who said she is voting for Obama got confused when someone mentioned Biden’s name.

What is more sad, that she is voting for Obama, or that she doesn’t know his running mate?