Americans Skeptical While Watching President Obama's Speech on GM

FLEMINGTON, N.J., June 2, 2009: A new national media study among 1,100 viewers of a speech by President Barack Obama yesterday in which he addressed GM's current financial status revealed that "skepticism" was the emotion felt most frequently by Democrats, Republicans and Independents while watching the speech.

The study was conducted by the MediaCurves.com(R) website on June 1, to obtain Americans' perceptions of President Barack Obama's speech yesterday in which outlined GM's current financial status.

"There was a decline in believability levels among Independents and Republicans when the president suggested that the new GM CEO has a plan to succeed. Republicans' believability also declined dramatically when the president stated that he has no interest in running GM or planning to exercise the Government's rights as a bond holder," stated

Glenn Kessler, president and CEO, HCD Research.

A slight majority of Democrats (55%) reported that they would be likely to purchase a GM vehicle for their next automobile before watching the president's speech yesterday. After viewing the speech, that number increased to 59%. Before watching Obama's speech, 47% of Republicans indicated they would be likely to purchase a GM vehicle. That number decreased slightly after watching the speech to 45%.

Among the findings:

"Which of the following emotions did you feel the most while viewing the video?

  Please select one emotion you felt most."

                      Democrats       Republicans     Independents
  Anger                   2%               9%              7%
  Inspiration            34%              10%             13%
  Sadness                 7%               5%              7%
  Skepticism             35%              63%             54%
  Confusion               6%               3%              4%
  Disturbing              4%               4%              5%
  Embarrassment           1%               2%              0%
  Pride                   6%               2%              6%
  Happiness               4%               1%              3%

"Please indicate the likelihood that you will purchase a car in the next year."

                     Democrats       Republicans     Independents
  Not at all
   likely               40%              45%             45%
  Somewhat
   likely               43%              40%             43%
  Extremely
   likely               17%              15%             13%

  IF 'Somewhat likely' or 'Extremely likely':

"Please indicate the likelihood that your next car purchase will be a GM vehicle."

               BEFORE Watching Speech             AFTER Watching Speech
             Demo-   Republi-   Indepen-       Demo-   Republi-   Indepen-
             crats    cans       dents         crats    cans       dents
  Not at all
   likely     45%      54%        54%           41%      55%        51%
  Somewhat
   likely     46%      36%        43%           48%      35%        44%
  Extremely
   likely      9%      11%         3%           11%      10%         5%

While viewing the video clip, participants indicated their levels of believability by moving their mouse from left to right on a continuum. The responses were recorded in quarter-second intervals and reported in the form of curves. The participants were also asked to respond to post-viewing questions.