How Clinton's Exit May Boost Obama-Journal of Marketing Research.

[Ichingcarpenter]

From Live Science:
August 12, 2008


Whether Sen. Hillary Clinton stands at the side of Sen. Barack Obama during his bid for the U.S. presidency or not, her exit from the race could give him the boost he needs, a new marketing study suggests.

The research supports an assumption often discussed by pundits: that undecided voters are likely to go with the candidate most similar to the one that drops out.

The study found that if two options vie for a consumer's or voter's preference, and a third option enters and leaves the market, the remaining option most similar to the exiting one benefits. The similar features get more attention, and consumers think, "Oh, that must be important," the researchers say.

"This is exactly what happened in the Democratic primaries this year," said researcher Akshay Rao of the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management. "We have Obama and Clinton going at it for months after the Republican primary has been decided. John McCain couldn't buy media attention at that time because everybody is focused on the attributes that Obama and Clinton were arguing about."

He added that by withdrawing after the primaries, Clinton left in her wake an impression that the shared Obama-Clinton attributes and issue stances were important. With Clinton out of the picture, Obama could take all of that popular appeal.
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http://www.livescience.com/culture/080812-hillary-effect.html

[Name removed]

1. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Occam Bandage]

2. Wait--Obama might go up in the polls because the other Dem dropped out?

This is shocking and fascinating news.

[PresidentObama]

3. LOL. Agreed. This seems hardly news enough to post. I'll file it in "Well Duh"

[Phx_Dem]

5. Nice snarky attitude.

Just because you don't find it interesting, doesn't mean it shouldn't have been posted. You have the option of skipping threads that don't interest you.

[Renew Deal]

4. I think this is correct.

The one advantage to Hillary sticking around is that Obama and Hillary were setting the issues.

[PBS Poll-435]

6. Well, this is what many were saying here...

For three months, the news was Hillary and Obama. No Republicans mentioned.

Now, there is a presumptive nominee and he is doing well in the polls...