Majority of All Parties Believe Governor Sanford Should Resign After Viewing Apology

Majority of All Parties Believe Governor Sanford Should Resign After Viewing
Apology

- All political parties say Sanford's apology much less sincere than
Letterman's recent apology -

FLEMINGTON, N.J., June 26 /PRNewswire/ -- A new national media study among 614
self-reported Democrats, Republicans and Independents revealed that a majority
of all parties indicated that South Carolina Governor, Mark Sanford should
resign from office after viewing his apology in which he admitted that he was
unfaithful to his wife.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071204/NYTU133LOGO )

The study was conducted by HCD Research using its MediaCurves.com(R) website
on June 25, to obtain viewers' perceptions of South Carolina Governor, Mark
Sanford's recent apology and his admission to an extramarital affair. To view
sincerity curves and detailed results go to: www.mediacurves.com.

"After viewing the automated response curves, we noticed that there was a
significant increase in sincerity levels across all parties when Sanford talks
about his wife sticking by his side through the years and all his campaigns,"
explained Glenn Kessler, president and CEO, HCD Research. "However, there was
a similar drop in sincerity levels when he apologizes to his staff," commented
Kessler.

A recent study conducted by HCD Research measured David Letterman's sincerity
level during his apology for remarks he made about Governor Palin's daughter
on his show. Compared to Governor Sanford, Letterman received a significantly
higher sincerity rating by their respective viewers. The sincerity levels were
measured on a scale of 1-7, with 1 representing 'not at all sincere' and 7
representing 'extremely sincere.' David Letterman received a score of 4.2 for
his apology, while Governor Sanford received a score of 3.2.

Governor Sanford's apology was viewed as insincere across all parties, yet
Republicans and Independents reported that the apology was slightly more
sincere compared to Democrats.

Among the study findings:

"Do you think South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford should resign?
BEFORE viewing apology AFTER viewing apology
------------------------------ -------------------------------
Democrat Republican Independent Democrat Republican Independent
-------- ---------- ----------- -------- ---------- -----------
Yes 59% 50% 50% 58% 51% 55%
No 20% 25% 26% 24% 27% 27%
Not sure 20% 25% 24% 18% 22% 18%

"Please indicate how sincere you think Governor Mark Sanford's apology was on
a scale of 1-7 where 1 represents 'Not at all sincere' and 7 represents
'Extremely sincere.'"
Democrats Republicans Independents
--------- ----------- ------------
MEAN 3.5 3.9 3.7

While viewing the video, participants indicated their levels of sincerity 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.

About MediaCurves.com
MediaCurves.com(R) (www.mediacurves.com) is a media measurement website that
provides the media and general public with a venue to view Americans'
perceptions of popular and controversial media events and advertisements. For
more information on mediacurves.com, please contact Barbara Taylor, director,
MediaCurves.com, at (908) 483-9146 or barbara.taylor@hcdi.net. MediaCurves.com
is a service of HCD Research, a marketing and communications research company
headquartered in Flemington, NJ. The company's services include traditional
and web-based 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.

SOURCE HCD Research

Vince McGourty, HCD Research, +1-908-483-9121, or vince.mcgourty@hcdi.net; or
Barbara Taylor, director, MediaCurves.com, +1-908-483-9146, or
barbara.taylor@hcdi.net