CSPAN1 NOW--Peter Hart focus group on now...your fellow Americans

[Gloria]

Peter Hart has been a Democratic pollster....Listen and learn as the focus group discusses politics. They are now evaluating Bush.

Bring crayons....

[lancdem]

1. Is this a new group?

I remember there was one of these on C-SPAN awhile ago.

[revcarol]

2. It wasn't worth sheep-dip.

Moderator asked dumb and irrelevant questions and prompted people toward the answers he wanted.
Keep us informed about this one.

[mandyky]

11. Different group - this was Ohio/Michigan

The other one was PA

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[K-W]

16. Please stop spamming threads with your post,

start a thread if you like, but judging from your post im guessing you probably dont belong on this forum.

[BuelahWitch]

3. Most of these people seemed really out of touch

Just repeating the media memes. I was disappointed because they were supposed to be Democrats. I did like "Janelle" though. She called Bush an idiot! :D

[Jerseycoa]

4. I saw something positive

They seemed to not know much about Clark, but are interested in learning more about him. Ohio.

[Gloria]

5. Yes, this was a new group, done the day or so after Saddam...

and it didn't do much for Bush.

It's clear that Dean is not a done deal. The focus is on his anger and then there is a disconnect. A lot of interest in learning about Clark.
Comments about how his understanding of death are interesting. He will need to ratchet up his domestic agenda, though, something I've recognized and have been telling our field coordinator!

Peter Hart is an expert Dem pollster. Many years ago, when I was working at Gallup (the real Gallup) he was just starting out and even then, everybody wanted to work for him. I knew one person who actually did.

Interesting comments about how when he did the words and phrases, it was hard for Kerry and Gephardt. Kerry did worse than last time. Two things he noticed: interest in Clark and a deeper like for Lieberman than shows in the polls, where he's at "ground zero." They seem to like him.


Dean not to bad tonight; Clark should be heartened by the potentiality coming his way; Lieberman and Gephardt, need more of a springboard; Kerry a question mark; Edwards an unknown.

[Bush loves Jiang]

14. If Lieberman's the nominee, defect on mass...

Move to Canada and give us an NDP government. ;)

[askew]

6. This is just fascinating

It is interesting to watch people who obviously only get there information from the news. Dean is excited, angry; Clark is military; Gephardt and Kerry are bland; and Lieberman is honest. It was nice to hear that people liked Dean, because they felt he was consistent. And the news about Lieberman is flat out frightening. It was nice to see how all of them thought the medicare bill and the economy stinks. Also, I think it was very important to note how low they rated foreign policy issues, as compared to domestic issues. I truly believe this election will be decided on domestic issues, no matter how badly Bush hopes it won't be.

The reporter session is even more interesting. It shows truly how ignorant and clueless they are. Some of them were truly shocked that people didn't think the economy was improving and how important the interest group found domestic issues. The group didn't find Sadaam is not a turning point in the war.

[liberalnurse]

17. That tells me that the Dean Meet-Ups can be

dual purposed. I plan on adding an informational section for new comers; video's, discussion sessions and peer to peer support from a seasoned Dean supporter to a new comer.

[kentuck]

7. I thought this was a very interesting focus group....

First of all, they were from Ohio, which will be a very important state for Democrats. The people were more knowledgeable than the last group, even though they were more "average" Americans. Dean was the choice of most going into the session but when they asked specific questions about foreign policy, character issues, negotiations, etc, the other candidates did better. But at the end, they came back around to the point that they wanted a candidate that spoke his mind and was straight-forward and was not wishy-washy, and many were back with Dean. I thought it was a fascinating group of people.

[snyttri]

8. Hart concluded voters had not begun to make up their their minds.

[kentuck]

9. I think they have begun.....

to make up their minds...Also, it was surprising to hear them talk about "unity" and how divided our nation is at the present time and how we need a leader to bring us together. All other issues aside, including the war in Iraq, this could be the issue that Americans might find most attractive by election time..

[candy331]

10. One thing I noted was

that they thought the economy was the #1 issue with them but felt none of the candidates were honing in on it to stand out. Seems the economy will be a big factor and our candidates need to do their homework and take charge of this issue. Seems people are Fearful but not so much of terrorists but of domestic issues like jobs, healthcare, education etc.

The media is spinning these numbers about the economy improving but from this group it is just figures with no substance. Democrats need to grab hold of jobs, economy, health care, education and stay away from social divisive issues like abortion, gays which the repugs corner them in and there is no one answer for this. The attorney named Alan in the group brought this point out so nicely.

Dems have to lay out a definitive plan for homeland security and a plan for Iraq, but loudly proclaim the social inclusive issues because Dems will not be given a high mark on security but can pass w/o it if they take charge of the social issues.

[mandyky]

12. Excellent news for Dean and Clark on this one

Lieberman still has name recognition. Many of these folks take whatthe media says about candidates as gospel, though.

This group did not bode well for Kerry, Edwards, or Gephardt.

[hellhathnofury]

13. Well,

The conclusion I drew from this was that they aren't really paying attention yet. They think they want a straight shooter with a plan on the economy (though they don't care what the plan actually contains). We need to do a better job of getting the attacks out of the news and policy and positive character into the media. Not disheartening, kinda what I expected.

[mandyky]

18. Any Dean supporters wanna do so brainstorming?

I started a thread in Politics and Campaigns and I am watching the tape I made of this last night.