July 12, 2004

Appearance of Character Themes and Rebuttals

# of Theme Statements # of Rebuttals Percent with Rebuttals
Bush is arrogant 309 25 8%
Bush lacks credibility 228 11 5%
Bush is a strong and decisive<*br*leader 153 18 12%
Kerry hems and haws/is indecisive 112 11 10%
Kerry is very liberal 101 39 39%
Kerry is a tough guy/will not back down 42 7 17%

For both Sen. Kerry and President Bush, rebuttals of the dominant themes of the campaign were not frequent. The charge of Kerry being liberal received the most rebuttals.

Source: PEJ, “Character and the Campaign”

Date Posted: July 12, 2004