Majority of Voters Say Celebrity Endorsements Played No Role in their Decision

-- Males and Females Pick Oprah Winfrey, Alan Greenspan and Rush Limbaugh as Most Influential --

Flemington, NJ, November 7, 2008 – Results of a new national focus group among 245 Americans revealed that the majority of male (90%) and female (87%) voters reported that celebrity endorsements had no influence on who they voted for in the presidential election.

The communications research study was conducted during November 6-7 by HCD Research and the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion to obtain Americans’ views on celebrity endorsements for the presidential candidates. To view detailed results of the study go to: www.mediacurves.com

Among the study findings:

Did celebrity endorsements in the media have any influence on your decision on which candidate to vote for in the presidential election?

	Males	Females
Heavily influenced my decision	2%	3%
Slightly influenced my decision	9%	10%
No influence my decision	90%	87%
Not sure	0%	0%

Top five most influential celebrities among male and female respondents:

	Male Average	Female Average
Oprah Winfrey	32%	34%
Alan Greenspan	33%	26%
Rush Limbaugh	25%	28%
George Clooney	21%	27%
Barbara Walters	25%	22%

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.

Editors/Reporters: For more information on the study, or to speak with Glenn Kessler, president and CEO, HCD Research or Chris Borick, Ph.D., director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion, please contact Vince McGourty, HCD Research, at (908) 483-9121 or (vince.mcgourty@hcdi.net).

HCD Research is a communications research company headquartered in Flemington, NJ. The company's services include traditional and web-based communications research. For additional information on HCD Research, access the company’s web site at www.hcdi.net or call HCD Research at 908-788-9393. Headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania, MCIPO is a respected source of public opinion data on local, state and national issues. For additional information on Muhlenberg College, go to www.muhlenberg.edu