Clinton/Sanders Messaging Poll Goes Through Iowa

About 15 minutes before the main Republican debate on CNN last night I got a poll call testing various messaging points on both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. They only said it was from a “national data collection firm,” and I somehow forgot to inquire further at the end of the call which company was doing the polling. However, it was from the same Michigan area code that I’ve received previous Clinton-sponsored polls from. Between that and the questions asked, I’m assuming it was another poll from her campaign.

It was pretty loud where I was at, so these questions aren’t as verbatim as I usually get them. It’s pretty interesting all the same:

Do you have a favorable/unfavorable view of:

– Barack Obama
– Donald Trump
– Hillary Clinton
– Joe Biden
– Martin O’Malley
– Bernie Sanders

Who would you caucus for in the Democratic Iowa Caucus? Are you certain, or could you change your mind?

If your candidate is not viable, who’s your 2nd choice?

What is the most important aspect in choosing the next President?
– Someone who can work to find common ground
– Someone who can shake up Washington?

What is not being addressed in the presidential race?
– Republicans are taking the country backwards
– Big corporations and special interests get all the breaks
– Candidates aren’t addressing the real issues [I couldn’t hear this one very well]
– Congress is not getting anything done

Rate these qualities 1-5 of how important they are to you in a presidential candidate
– Will be straight-forward with the American people
– Brings new ideas to address the country’s problems
– Will fight for people like you
– [something – maybe ‘take on’?] the political establishment
– Get things done

Which of these qualities best describe Bernie Sanders?
– He brings new ideas to the process
– Will fight for people like you
– Understands how to get the economy moving and create jobs
– Is too ideological

Which of these qualities best describe Hillary Clinton?
– Someone you can count on to get things done
– Will fight for people like you
– Understands how to get the economy moving and create jobs
– Is too ideological

Which of these qualities best describe Hillary Clinton?
– I don’t know what she believes in
– I don’t know where she stands on the issues
– The email issue is damaging her campaign

Which of these qualities best describe Bernie Sanders?
– Won’t be able to get things done
– Will lose the general election to Republicans
– I don’t agree with where he stands on the issues
– He is a socialist

Have you seen campaign ads for Hillary Clinton? Online, on TV, or both?

How do you feel about Hillary Clinton’s personal email use
– Too many unanswered questions on her email account
– She has addressed the situation and needs to move on to what matters to ordinary Americans

Has she apologized? [I asked them to repeat this twice – they were actually asking if you thought she had apologized for it]

[A section on Sanders I couldn’t completely hear the prompt]
– Bernie Sanders talks mostly about big changes, but can’t get things done
– Sanders talks mostly about big changes, but [didn’t get it – I think it was the opposite of the previous statement, that he could get it done]

– Sanders understands what real people are going through
– Sanders talks about billionaires, but not really about what he would do to help people in their real lives

They then tested lengthy statements from both Sanders and Clinton, and asked if that made you more or less likely to support them. These were really long, best I got:

– Sanders: we have a corporate establishment that is destroying the economy, hurting working families and the American people are sick of it. You can’t have it all. Corporate America needs to pay their fair share. We need a political revolution, a grass-roots political movement. One person alone can’t change it

– Clinton: she’s running because we need a president who will fight every single day. For too long the deck has been stacked, Wall Street has been playing by their own rules. Most regular people are [suffering?]. We need to work to fix the hard problems, like childcare, college affordability, mental illness. Make sure that when you do the work you get rewarded, instead of everything going to the top

Who would you caucus for?

Sanders supports Obamacare or Medicare-for-all style healthcare. Do you favor that or oppose?

Sanders says Wall Street needs to be changed and people need to go to jail. Clinton is for breaking up big banks, and holding them accountable for risky behavior. Do you support Sanders’ or Clinton’s view?

Sanders says we need free tuition to every college in the country. Clinton says we need to reduce student debt and let people refinance at a lower rate [my notes aren’t great on this question]. Do you support Sanders’ or Clinton’s view?

On healthcare, do you think we should move to a Medicare-for-all, single-payer program? Or do you think the last thing we should do is start over?

[There was another question or two I didn’t get here – something about college affordability, Clinton actually getting things done and Sanders Medicare-for-all being unlikely to be accomplished]

After hearing those, who would you caucus for?

And that was the end of the poll. Extremely interesting to see the contrasts the Clinton campaign may be looking to make with Sanders, especially on healthcare. Framing his Medicare-for-all plan as “starting over” from Obamacare would be a particularly intriguing tactic to take.

by Pat Rynard
Posted 9/17/15