The following comes from an Associated Press/Yahoo! News poll conducted by Knowledge Networks during the middle of June.
Question: What are the first few words that come to your mind when you think about each of the following candidates?
| Rank | Obama | McCain |
| 1 | Outsider (20%) | Old (19%) |
| 2 | Lack of Experience (13%) | Military Service (9%) |
| 3 | Dishonest (9%) | Record/Qualifications (8%) |
| 4 | Inspiring (8%) | Bush (7%) |
| 5 | Liberal (6%) | Strength (7%) |
| 6 | Obama’s race + young (6% – tie) | Insider/politician (7%) |
| 7 | Obama’s race + young (6% – tie) | Iraq/terrorism (6%) |
| 8 | Not likable (5%) | Honest (5%) |
| 9 | Intelligent (4%) | Republican (5%) |
| 10 | Muslim (3%) | Moral/good + dishonest (4% – tie) |
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Wow! I am a bit surprised that the word “Muslim” even came up with Obama; I don’t particularly like him as a candidate but thinking of him as a Muslim smacks of being mis-informed. Also, “dishonest” and “not likable” was a bit of a surprise. McCain got “old” as the first word that comes to mind is not much of a surprise.
I guess I should have listed my thoughts on the poll results.
I found it strange that inspiring came after dishonest and lacks experience for Obama. Wouldn’t someone that is inspiring at least be perceived as being honest?
For McCain, all the responses seem “normal” except for the last. How is there a tie between being moral/good and dishonest? Very contradictory if you ask me.
And you are right about the Muslim remark. It probably has to do with people not really being informed about who Obama is, and since his name sounds like Osama, an uninformed person might make the connection. That could possibly explain the dishonest and not likable responses given as well.