Election 2008 Obama vs. McCain | Clinton vs. McCain | Latest 2008 Polls | Latest 2008 News

April 16, 2008

Frank Luntz Focus Group on the Debate

Hannity & Colmes

HANNITY: You're looking live at the Radio and Television Correspondents' Dinner, where the vice-president, Dick Cheney, is expected to speak at any moment. He's going to address a tough crowd full of media personalities, and we're going to have it for you live as it happens.

But first we go live to Pennsylvania, where a group of undecided Democratic voters are with our own Frank Luntz.

Frank, I'm dying to get their impressions of tonight.

FRANK LUNTZ, POLLSTER: So am I. So let's go right to it.

You watched the hour-and-a-half debate on ABC. The first question is who won it? And you've got to choose. By a show of hands, how many of you thought Hillary Clinton? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Looks like it's going to be narrowly Clinton.

How many thought Barack Obama? It's pretty darned close.

How many of you walked in here, leaning ever so slightly towards Hillary Clinton, but you're going to walk out of here ever so slightly towards Obama. Anybody? One individual. Jackie (ph), tell me why.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just felt that he presented himself better. He -- he addressed the issues, he answered. I was more leaning towards Hillary in the beginning, but now I'm leaning towards Obama. I just felt he presented his issues better; he answered the questions better. Even the negatives.

LUNTZ: And did anyone go in the other direction? Did anyone walk this here supporting Obama, and now you're leaning towards Hillary? Go ahead. Tell me why.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every time -- every time they start talking about policy decisions, it was a no-brainer that Hillary knew what she was talking about and could talk about it. The rest of it, Obama is just touchy-feely for me.

LUNTZ: OK. You're nodding your head. You thought Hillary did better on policy, just on policy. OK, so she wins on policy. Isn't that enough? Isn't that enough?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It should be.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's supposed to be the reason.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, because the Republicans always bring out the evangelists, and they also bring in the religion and where do you stand on abortion, gay rights and the whole schmear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that when they talk about Reverend Wright, that is important. He spent 20 years in this temple. I've left synagogues when people have said worse than that. And I think that that is important to people.

And I think Hillary won. I think if we could get a candidate with Obama's charisma and Hillary's mind, we'd be in good shape.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the last question, that Obama ducked on the gun control in Washington, D.C. He's a former constitutional law professor. He doesn't have an idea as to whether -- whether that law is constitutional?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said he didn't read the brief. I mean, you're a lawyer, so he's not going to just go off the cuff about...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A constitutional law professor has a view...

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not a question of whether he was briefed or not. We know what the D.C. ordinance says. And whether or not it's constitutional or not, he has some idea...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's a lawyer. He cannot say, "I know the answer to this question," if he doesn't know the answer to the question. The question was...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a typical lawyer answer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're not going to get a straight answer from an attorney.

(CROSSTALK)

LUNTZ: Hold on. Philadelphia is supposed to be the city of brotherly love.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We love each other. We spend all this time with one another.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He gave the same answer during his confirmation hearings, that he never even thought about the abortion issue.

LUNTZ: John.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He knows right from wrong. He knows what side to be on, as far as weapons are concerned, that they're killing people needlessly in the streets of Philadelphia and elsewhere in this country. The guns should be controlled. Not necessarily banned, but controlled.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think, looking at Washington's murder rate, that anyone believes that people who are -- criminals are going to suddenly say, "OK, guns are banned. I'm never going to touch them again." So I think it's a ridiculous issue to ban them anywhere. I think that bad people...

LUNTZ: But I want to focus on the debate. I want to focus on the two -- and maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I should be focused on the issues, not the personalities. But you all seem to be focused on both.

What do you think?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think Hillary's been a lot more crisp in her answers, but Barack has been much more focused on the core issues that matter to people.

LUNTZ: Such as?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Such as the economy, such as national security, not so much the different controversies in terms of Reverend Wright and in terms of Bosnia, those kind of things.

LUNTZ: And I want to show -- I want to show the audience something which has never happened in the debate before. How many of you in this room, if your candidate isn't chosen, will consider voting for John McCain? Raise your hands. Never at a Democratic -- you're all Democrats in here.

What is it about John McCain? Evan, what is it about John McCain that causes you to consider him as someone who's looking between Hillary...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's got experience. He's got leadership. He's shown over an extended career in his period in the House that he can work across the aisle. He's done things and has more experience than Barack and Hillary combined.

LUNTZ: Why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, he's a very liberal Republican, if there's - - such an animal exists. He's very liberal, and you can trust his character, basically.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think two things. When you look at the people who have come against McCain on the far right, there are people I disagree with. So that makes me lean towards him.

And also, I think he's the candidate that knows what it takes when you send people into battle. His son has been overseas, and we all know his story. And I trust him to send people overseas if he needs to.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we've had -- in George W. Bush we've had one of the most dishonest presidents that we've had in a long time. And I think people are willing to go outside the box in order to find a truly honest person. If it turns out that...

LUNTZ: Outside the Democratic Party?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not about dogma. This is about honesty.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are two major issues in this campaign to me: the war in Iraq and the economy. John McCain is on the wrong side of both of those things.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Exactly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And there's no way...

(Coverage of Vice President Cheney at the Correspondents' Dinner)

HANNITY: Now we just heard from Vice President Dick Cheney as he is at the radio and television correspondents' dinner in Washington. And we'll bring you more of the speeches as they happen live tonight.

But first we go back to our friend, Frank Luntz. He's standing by with a group of undecided voters in the great state of Pennsylvania.

First of all, did they like the speech, before my first question, Frank?

LUNTZ: OK. Let's find out. Did you like it? Does Dick Cheney have a good sense of humor? Yes or no?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

LUNTZ: Yes or no?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

LUNTZ: OK. So you give him credit for that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a clown.

HANNITY: All right. Frank...

LUNTZ: Who said that? Who said that? John just said he's been a clown for eight years. John's Social Security number is 064...

HANNITY: Hey, Frank, I want to go back to -- obviously, they've been watching the debate tonight, and for the first time some very interesting questions came up.

More specifically, I want to get reaction to whether or not the narrative on Senator Barack Obama, among your undecided voters, has changed, in this sense, about Reverend Wright and his shifting positions?

Do they -- question one, do they believe that he really didn't know about Reverend Wright's controversial comments for 20 years? And No. 2, what is their reaction to the story that I've covered a lot, Bill Ayers, Weather Underground, unrepentant terrorist who said on 9/11 in The New York Times, "I don't regret setting bombs"? He bombed the Pentagon, the Capitol, and New York City police headquarters.

Is this an issue, that was brought up for the first time tonight by George Stephanopoulos, that concerns them?

LUNTZ: Sean, I'll tell you first, from the dials, which we can't show you because of coverage rules. You'll get a chance to see it on Sunday evening.

When they were dial testing his response to the Reverend Wright and explaining it, the lines went lower and lower and lower. And I'm going to be curious to ask them why.

And when they asked the questions about the Weather Underground, that too, did not provoke a favorable response.

What was it about what Obama either was saying or not saying that agitated you? Why were you dialing it down?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I resent the fact that he explained Reverend Wright's patriotism by saying he was a Marine. Timothy McVeigh was in the Army. You know, that doesn't mean anything. He has yet to explain why -- whether or not he truly was there and what he actually thought of it for 20 years.

LUNTZ: Evan, quickly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With Barack and the whole...

HANNITY: Hang on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... he didn't seem honest and sincere when he was talking. He seemed like he was backpedaling, and he wasn't being truly honest when he was talking to the camera.

LUNTZ: Sean?

HANNITY: Frank, hang on one second.

About Us | RSS | Contact | Advertise | Privacy Policy         © RealClearPolitics 2008