Hillary Seen as Tough and Smart

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Friday September 21, 2007 · 3:57 PM PDT

2007/09/21 · 15:57

Cross-Posted on mydd and hillarysbloggers

In a recent survey by the Pew Research Center, a majority of Democrats associated Hillary with the words "tough" and "smart" over all of her Democratic primary counterparts. Indeed, a full 53% of Democrats associated "smart" with Hillary, Obama was the second most associated with "smart" at 23%. By association with "tough", Hillary was chosen by a whopping 67% of Democratic voters, Obama was the second most associated with "tough" by a paltry 14%.

As Hillary increasingly becomes the Party standard bearer this association is significant. In 2006, under the direction of Howard Dean, the Democratic National Party(DNC) began rolling out a new branding for the Democrats that emphasized smarts and toughness. At an April 2006 breakfast with the Christian Monitor, Dean had this to say about the election of 2008:
"One of our slogans is probably going to end up being 'tough and smart.' Because what the Republicans have done is tough and not very smart." Now say what you will about Howard Dean (personally, I'm a fan), I think he's been quite right about issues of branding and expanding the political market for the Party. I also think that he alone probably didn't develop the "tough and smart" theme. More likely it's the result of extensive research and plain old commonsense. Indeed, several Democrats in recent months has repeated this mantra. I think it bodes well for Hillary and, should she win the nomination, the Party(given Dean's prediction), that Hillary has already developed a strong perception among Democratic voters as being both tough and smart.

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