Commentary

Clinton Sees Stronger Emotional Engagement Than Trump After Conventions

With the national party conventions in our rearview mirror, customer loyalty research consultancy Brand Keys analyzed the overall electoral engagement within each party of the nominees.

Candidates are measured against four “drivers” voters use to define the Ideal President: Action, Compassion, Perception and Resolve. A polling sample’s ideal president is calibrated to 100%, and from there we can see how close to that ideal voters find Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton to be.

Among 1,200 registered Republican voters, emotional engagement around Trump is down from May 2015, when he announced his candidacy. There has been a slight uptick, however, from May 2016. Trump’s overall emotional engagement score was 81% right after the convention.

Measured on July 23, 2016, right after the Republican National Convention, Trump’s ratings were as follows: Resolve - 84%, Perception - 89%, Action - 75% and Compassion 70%. Throughout the past year, Trump has struggled with compassion scores: 79% in May 2015 and 65% in May 2016.

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Clinton fared better following the Democratic National Convention, as we saw a stronger sense of unity from the Democratic establishment and a majority of the delegates. Clinton’s overall emotional engagement measured on July 30, 2016, was 91%, up from 88% in May of 2016.

Clinton scored highest on the Action driver, with a score of 96%. Her lowest score, while still relatively strong, came in at 88% for Compassion. Clinton and her campaign have had a hard time showing remorse for her email scandal, which could possibly have influenced the lower Compassion score.

Likewise, Donald Trump’s inability to show respect for Khizr Khan, who spoke at the DNC about his son's military service, will likely further taint his Compassion score.

The remaining scores for Clinton were 90% for Resolve and 89% for Perception.

Using a balanced sample of Republican, Democratic and Independent voters, Clinton topped Trump 86% to 77% overall.

The candidates will have to strive to meet their constituents’ expectations. If they cannot, voters may be less enthusiastic about heading to the polls in November.

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