Candidate Word Association

As those who have been paying attention to the Republican presidential nomination race will know, there has recently been a reshuffling of the candidate preferences. Prefernce for Romney has remained about the same (although weak), while Cain has shot up to the top and Perry has slid far down in all the polls. Obviously the voters perceive these three men in different ways.

The Washington Post and the Pew Research Center decided to find out what the perceptions of these three men were to the general public and to Republicans. They asked people to give a one word answer when asked about each of the three. Here are the most popular words given for each candidate:

MITT ROMNEY
General Public
mormon..........60
healthcare..........17
flip flop..........13
good..........13
no..........12
possible..........12
religious..........11
old..........10
intelligent..........10
moderate..........10

Republicans
mormon..........26
healthcare..........11
politician..........8
good..........7
intelligent..........7
no..........7
presidential..........7

RICK PERRY
General Public
Texas..........55
no..........16
idiot..........15
conservative..........12
governor..........12
dislike..........10
crooked..........9
Bush..........8

Republicans
Texas..........32
conservative..........10
no..........9
good..........6
strong..........6
governor..........5
Bush..........4

HERMAN CAIN
General Public
9-9-9..........42
businessman..........30
interesting..........23
good..........22
pizza..........19
inexperienced..........12
new..........12
black..........11
intelligent..........11

Republicans
businessman..........25
9-9-9..........24
good..........17
interesting..........17
intelligent..........7
likeable..........7
pizza..........5
honest..........5
taxes..........5
smart..........5

Of the three, Cain seems to have the most positive words attached to his name (although the 9-9-9 could turn against him when people understand it better). Romney has all the words attached to him that he has been trying to get people to forget (so it's easy to see why his support is weak and stagnant). But Rick Perry has the most negative words attached to him (and after the Bush presidency I don't think Texas is a positive word). An interesting little survey.