Assessing the Candidate Brands

 
How do the Republican candidates stack up on the individual dimensions of branding: familiarity, reputation, personality, performance and connectivity?

 

Familiarity

At this point in the process, likely Republican primary voters are quite familiar with all the candidates. Name i.d. for the top four contenders is 95 percent and above.

 

Reputation

Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson lead the field on reputation, with 74 percent holding a favorable view of Giuliani and 71 percent with a favorable impression of Thompson.  McCain is third with 65 percent, followed by Romney at 62 percent.

 

 

Personality

Who looks most presidential? Who do voters perceive as the most trustworthy, interesting, likeable or Warm and charming candidates? These are the ways we measure the personality, or brand appeal, of the candidates.

Fred Thompson takes over the top spot for personality from Rudy Giuliani.  The former senator has an average personality score of 26.  Giuliani's score of 21 represents an 8-point drop in April.

Personality is John Mccain's weakest brand attribute, and he scores even lower in this area now (12%) than in April (18%).

Performance

McCain's brand strength is performance. Republicans see him as having the most respect from other countries, the best plan for Iraq, the most experience and preparation to be president.  Even so, his average performance rating fell from 34  to 26 in the latest survey.

Meanwhile, Giuliani's rating is up four points to 20.  In his first appearance in our study as an announced candidate, Thompson is third with a rating of 14.

 

Connectivity

Thompson is the top-rate candidate in terms of being most in-tune with the voters of South Carolina, sharing their views on issues and "caring about people like me."  His average rating is 19.  McCain drops to second in this category, down two points since the last survey. Giuliani and Romney also saw their ratings decline slightly.