Poll watchers: Q. re: Clark.

I was told that Clark's poll numbers vary significantly depending on whether he is listed as "Gen. Wesley Clark", or just "Wesley Clark".

I am not having any luck with a google search trying to verify this. I am hoping some of you poll geeks can help out here.

My questions would be:

- Did one polling organization conduct two otherwise identical polls except for the honorific?

- Or is it two different polls/polling organizations/dates?

It may or may not be significant, but it should help us track the numbers a little better. If a polling organization is listing "Gov. Dean", and "Sen. Kerry", but not "Gen. Clark", that would be a skewed poll. And vice versa, if it's "Gen. Wesley Clark", vs "Howard Dean" and John Kerry", that would be skewed too.

If nothing else, it should tell us how important it will be to have a "Gen." running.

disclaimer: I am a Dean supporter, and this is in no way indended to be detrimental to Gen. Clark. I have no problem with him being listed as "Gen. Clark". I am just curious.

They should leave everyone's title in, or leave everyone's title out. No exceptions for individuals.

There was a thread here about it a while ago, maybe 2-3 weeks.

...Clark fared better with "General." I think, based on memory, Dean fared worse when "doctor" was used.

on edit: found the story, link in next post. I remembered it wrong. Kerry did BETTER with "Senator" used. Others had little effect.

DO TITLES MATTER?
Are some of the Democratic candidates for president in 2004 looking better in polls that refer to them by their honorific titles, such as Senator, General or Congressman?

An experiment conducted in this CBS News/New York Times Poll shows little direct benefit in favorability ratings or vote preference for most candidates from the use of their titles. Inclusion of titles along with the candidates' names has the most impact for members of Congress (including Senators), while it has little effect on the ratings of those outside of Congress.

When asked who they want to win the Democratic nomination, Congressman Richard Gephardt rises to the top of list among likely Democratic primary voters when his title is used, and Senator John Kerry's favorable ratings improve slightly when Senator is included in his name. And while Wesley Clark is a strong contender for the nomination whether or not he is referred to as "General."

Most voters have yet to form favorable or unfavorable opinions of individual candidates, and the presence of a title does little to change that. Notably, neither Wesley Clark nor Howard Dean gain much from the inclusion of their titles in the question; nearly identical percentages of voters have favorable views of each candidate regardless of whether or not titles are used. The only candidate for whom the mention of a title makes any difference is John Kerry, whose favorable rating increases when he is identified as Senator John Kerry.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/02/opinion/polls/main576342.shtml

is that they chose to use "Dr. Howard Dean" instead of "former Gov. Howard Dean".