Political Party Loyalty Going the Way of the Paper Ballot

-- -- 77% of Americans Feel the Candidate, Not the Party, Is Most
Important When Voting according to GfK OmniTel® Election
Survey ---

NEW YORK – October 23, 2006 – GfK Omnibus Services, a division of GfK
Custom Research North America, today announced results from its new GfK
OmniTel Election survey revealing almost eight out of ten Americans feel the
‘candidate’ and not the ‘party’ is most important when they enter the voting
booth.

Drilling down demographically by gender, age, income and region of the
country, results remain steady as 77% of Americans say they will vote for their
individual candidate of choice, irrespective of the party to which the candidate
belongs. Self-reported conservatives, however, emphasize they put more
weight toward the candidate than their liberal counterparts (80% vs. 72%).

The survey also shows a majority of Americans identify themselves as party
moderates. Slightly more than half of respondents (51%) state their political
leanings fall somewhere in between that of liberal and conservative whereas
thirty-one percent identify themselves as conservative and 15% as liberal.
Additionally, political views seem to differ among the sexes as men are more
likely to describe themselves as conservative while women tend to perceive
themselves as somewhere in between.

"It is interesting to note that though more than three quarters of Americans say
they will vote for the candidate over the party, 54% have never altered their
political affiliation,” explains Bruce Barr, Vice President of GfK Omnibus
Services. “Individuals seem more willing to see beyond the reds and blues of
election season and cast their ballot for the candidate that speaks to their
personal values and concerns.”

The GfK OmniTel Election survey was conducted among 1,007 American
adults aged 18 and up interviewed by telephone from October 6-8, 2006.
Margin of error for this survey is plus or minus three percent.

About GfK OmniTel
GfK OmniTel is a weekly telephone survey fielded to a national sample of 1,000
representative American adults every weekend. Developed by GfK Custom
Research North America, the poll offers an efficient way to understand trends
and issues relating to U.S. consumers nationwide. The Omnibus Services
division resides in the GfK Princeton, NJ offices. To ask a question on the next
wave of GfK OmniTel, call your GfK account representative or contact Bruce
Barr, Vice President, GfK Omnibus Services at 609-683-6100.

About GfK Custom Research North America
Headquartered in New York, GfK Custom Research North America is a company
of The GfK Group. With home offices in Nuremberg, Germany, The GfK Group
is among the top-five market research organizations in the world. Its activities
cover five business divisions: Custom Research, Retail and Technology,
Consumer Tracking, Media and Healthcare. In addition to 13 subsidiaries in
Germany, The GfK Group has more than 130 subsidiaries and affiliates in over
70 countries.

###