Study: Obama deals with the abstract

MONTREAL, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- U.S. and Canadian researchers say voters respond to Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Barack Obama's abstract notions of hope, change and judgment.

Hakkyun Kim of Concordia University, Akshay Rao of the University of Minnesota and Angela Lee of Northwestern University said that while Obama was providing abstract messages, rivals Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and other candidates presented detailed, concrete proposals on many topics, which did not resonate as well.

The researchers said Obama's reliance on lofty rhetoric succeeded thus far, because the election was far in the future. The researchers used an analogy to explain.

"Imagine taking a vacation to Cancun sometime in the future and if the vacation is six months away, the traveler is thinking beaches, sunsets and other abstract information," the researchers said in a statement. "On the other hand, if the vacation begins the following week, the traveler is thinking about taxi cabs, boarding passes and specific, concrete concerns."

In similar fashion, a voter facing a choice in the distant future is less interested in particular plans and only as the election gets closer do voters start paying attention to details of the candidate's positions on issues of importance.

The study is scheduled to be published in the Journal of Consumer Research in April.