DraftWesleyClark.com Releases Zogby Poll

DraftWesleyClark.com, the national campaign to draft former General Wesley Clark for President, has experienced an explosion in traffic and energy in the wake of its release of stunning results from a Zogby poll commissioned by the group. Using a “blind bio” approach, the poll showed General Clark defeating all current Democratic candidates, and beating President Bush 49.4% to 40.2%. (see http://www.DraftWesleyClark.com/poll.htm for full results)

“Clearly, these stunning poll results have unleashed an entirely new wave of enthusiasm for a Clark candidacy,” said John Hlinko, co-founder of the effort. “DraftWesleyClark.com already had the second most traffic of all the Presidential candidate sites – but yesterday we had our most traffic ever. The combination of these poll results and our performance in the ‘modem primary’ clearly shows the depth of popular support for General Clark.”

The campaign also announced that pledges to its “General Fund” – pledges of support made by supporters to a potential Clark candidacy -- had reached $800,000. It has set a goal to reach $1,000,000 by Labor Day.

DraftWesleyClark.com released the results of the poll yesterday, live on C-SPAN. They were presented as part of an overall report by political analyst and former professor, Chris Kofinis, Ph.D.

The poll was commissioned by DraftWesleyClark.com, and conducted by John Zogby, one of the nation’s most prominent and respected pollsters. In an effort to best assess the potential for a Clark candidacy, given that he is not yet a declared candidate, the poll included several “blind bio” questions. For these, subjects polled were given biographical descriptions of the candidates, rather than actual names. All questions and bios were screened and approved by John Zogby for fairness and objectivity.

Among the findings:

· “Too Late?” – 84.1% of likely Democratic primary voters say it is not too late for a new entrant into the race to win their support;
· “Military/National Security” – 73.5% of all likely voters rate military/national security experience as “very” or “somewhat” important for a presidential candidate;
· “Clark vs. Dems” -- Clark comes in first in a blind-bio match-up versus six key Democratic candidates (Dean, Kerry, Edwards, Lieberman, Gephardt, Edwards, and Graham);
· “Clark vs. Bush” -- Clark wins 49.4% to 40.2% in a blind-bio match-up versus President Bush among a national poll of likely voters;
· Even when the poll question referred solely to candidate names (no bio information), Clark jumped to 5th place (4.9%) nationally among likely Democratic primary voters – despite his low name recognition, and the fact that he has not spent a dime.

“These Zogby poll results suggest that the race for the Democratic nomination is wide open, and that likely primary voters are definitely open to another candidate entering the race,” said Dr. Kofinis. “Further, the poll results tell us that Clark has the qualities to compete against the elite of the Democratic field, and to challenge and potentially defeat President Bush in 2004.”

See (see http://www.DraftWesleyClark.com/poll.htm for full results).

ABOUT THE POLL
The poll was conducted between August 16th and 19th, using 1,019 likely voters chosen nationwide. The margin of error is +/- 3.2% for the overall sample, and +/- 4.1% for the sample of likely Democratic primary voters.

ABOUT DRAFTWESLEYCLARK.COM
Launched in April, 2003, DraftWesleyClark.com has collected tens of thousands of letters urging General Clark to run, raised over $800,000 in pledges, and built a network of volunteer leaders, ready to serve – if General Clark chooses to lead. DraftWesleyClark.com has already been featured on Good Morning America, Meet The Press, CBS Evening News, Crossfire, CNN, MSNBC, and Fox, as well as in the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Esquire and Newsweek.

DraftWesleyClark.com is the largest effort to draft Wesley Clark for President. It is not affiliated with General Clark. The effort is headquartered in Washington, DC, one block from the White House. For more information, please see http://www.DraftWesleyClark.com.
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Paid for by DraftWesleyClark.com. Not Authorized by any candidate. Contributions to DraftWesleyClark.com are not tax deductible for federal income tax purposes.