DATE: March 6, 2012 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT: David Stawasz at 413-796-2026 (office) or 413-214-8001 (cell) VOTERS: BROWN

IS STRONGER ON BIPARTISANSHIP, WHILE WARREN WOULD BE TOUGHER ON WALL STREET Latest poll identifies voters perceptions of Senate candidates strengths and weaknesses SPRINGFIELD, MAMassachusetts voters view Republican Scott Brown and Democrat Elizabeth Warren roughly evenly in terms of who is honest and trustworthy, while Brown holds the edge on working across party lines in the Senate and Warren is more often viewed as a strict regulator of the financial industry. The latest poll conducted by the Western New England University Polling Institute in partnership with The Republican newspaper of Springfield, MA and MassLive.com found that voters are making clear distinctions between the candidates for the U.S. Senate. But the data also show that there is still plenty of opportunity for the candidates to define themselves and each other. The statewide telephone survey of 527 registered voters, conducted Feb. 23 through March 1, 2012, asked: Regardless of how you plan to vote in the Senate election, please tell me whether you think each of the following statements applies more to Scott Brown or Elizabeth Warren: : Is honest and trustworthy Has the experience to effectively represent Massachusetts in Washington Cares more about people like you Can work with senators from both parties to solve problems Has the best ideas for creating jobs in Massachusetts Will be tougher on Wall Street Has the best ideas to improve health care

2 Brown, who was elected to the Senate in a special election in 2010, and Warren, a professor at Harvard Law School, ran roughly evenly on who is honest and trustworthy. Thirty-four percent of voters gave the nod to Brown and 31 percent cited Warren. Brown scored highest on having the experience to effectively represent the state in Washington, with 47 percent of voters saying the statement best described him, and 29 percent attributing that characteristic to Warren. Brown also received high marks for bipartisanship, with 45 percent of voters saying he could work with senators from both parties to solve problems. Twenty-six percent of voters said the statement best described Warren. Bipartisanship has been a consistent theme of the Brown campaign, and that message seems to be reaching voters, said Tim Vercellotti, associate professor of political science and director of the Western New England University Polling Institute. Warren, on the other hand, was more often described as caring more about people like you. Forty-one percent of voters said the statement best applied to Warren, while 35 percent said the statement described Brown. That a candidate can empathize with the average voter is an important trait, especially during tough economic times, Vercellotti said. Warren, whose early advertising has presented her as coming from humble origins, has a slight edge in this area. But Brown is only a few points behind on this trait, which may reflect his ongoing efforts to present himself as someone with a modest background as well. Warren came away with a much larger advantage when the survey asked which candidate would be tougher on Wall Street. Fifty percent of voters said Warren, while 27 percent said Brown. Warren chaired a congressional panel that monitored the federal governments program to bail out troubled financial institutions and she also led efforts to create the federal governments Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Warrens background in this area has clearly made an impression with voters, Vercellotti said. Across almost all demographic groups, voters gave her the advantage on this issue. Voters gave Brown the nod when it comes to having the best ideas for creating jobs in Massachusetts, 36 percent to Warrens 27 percent. But Warren had the edge when it came to having the best ideas for improving health care, with 39 percent to Browns 25 percent. Forty-two percent of women said Warren had the best ideas to improve health care, while 24 percent said Brown. Men also favored Warren over Brown, but by a smaller margin of 35 percent to 27 percent. Vercellotti said it is hard to tell from the data whether Warrens advantage in this area is related to the recent debate over Senate legislation that would allow employers to tailor

3 health insurance coverage for employees to reflect employers moral or religious convictions, including whether to cover contraception. Brown supported the legislation and Warren opposed it. The Senate defeated the measure on March 1. While Warren receives higher marks from women on health care, Browns standing among women generally has not fallen significantly in this latest survey, Vercellotti said. There is not a lot of evidence in the data to indicate that this recent debate in the Senate has made a sizable difference in the campaign. Large numbers of voters either could not or would not offer an assessment of Brown or Warren on some of the candidate traits, including who has the best ideas for creating jobs or improving health care. Twenty-eight percent of voters said they did not know or declined to give an answer in both policy domains. Vercellotti said the results likely reflect gaps in voters knowledge of the candidates and their policy positions. When you have that many people failing to offer an assessment of a candidate on an important issue like jobs or health care, that suggests the campaigns have not succeeded in getting their messages across in those areas yet, he said. Some voters also struggled to describe Brown and Warren in terms of political ideology when asked which of five categories best described the candidates: very liberal, somewhat liberal, moderate, somewhat conservative or very conservative. Voters also were offered the option to say they did not know. Thirty-four percent of voters described Brown as somewhat conservative and 26 percent described him as moderate. But one-quarter of voters said they could not give an answer. The uncertainty was even greater for Warren. Twenty-two percent of voters described her as somewhat liberal and 19 percent described her as very liberal, but 42 percent said they did not know. That such a large number of people had difficulty placing the candidates in a category may reflect the early stage of the campaign, Vercellotti said. Voters clearly still have a lot to learn about the candidates.

METHODOLOGY The Western New England University Polling Institute conducted telephone interviews with 576 adults ages 18 and older drawn from across Massachusetts using random-digitdialing Feb. 23 through March 1, 2012. The sample yielded 527 adults who said they are registered to vote in Massachusetts. Unless otherwise noted, the figures in this release are based on the statewide sample of registered voters. The Polling Institute dialed household telephone numbers, known as landline numbers, and cell phone numbers for the survey. In order to draw a representative sample from the landline numbers, interviewers first asked for the youngest male age 18 or older who was home at the time of the call, and if no adult male was present, the youngest female age 18 or older who was at home at the time of the call. Interviewers dialing cell phone numbers interviewed the respondent who answered the cell phone after confirming three things: (1) that the respondent was in a safe setting to complete the survey; (2) that the respondent was an adult age 18 or older; and (3) that the respondent was a resident of Massachusetts. The landline and cell phone data were combined and weighted to reflect the adult population of Massachusetts by gender, race, age, and county of residence using U.S. Census estimates for Massachusetts. Complete results of the poll are available online at www.wne.edu/news. All surveys are subject to sampling error, which is the expected probable difference between interviewing everyone in a population versus a scientific sampling drawn from that population. The sampling error for a sample of 527 registered voters is +/- 4.3 percent, at a 95 percent confidence interval. Thus if 45 percent of registered voters said Elizabeth Warren will be tougher on Wall Street, one would be 95 percent sure that the true figure would be between 40.7 percent and 49.3 percent (45 percent +/- 4.3 percent) had all Massachusetts voters been interviewed, rather than just a sample. Sampling error increases as the sample size decreases, so statements based on various population subgroups are subject to more error than are statements based on the total sample. Sampling error does not take into account other sources of variation inherent in public opinion studies, such as non-response, question wording, or context effects. Established in 2005, the Western New England University Polling Institute conducts research on issues of importance to Massachusetts and the region. The Institute provides the Universitys faculty and students with valuable opportunities to participate in public opinion research. Additional information about the Polling Institute is available at www1.wne.edu/pollinginst. Western New England University is a private, independent, coeducational institution founded in 1919. Located on an attractive 215-acre suburban campus in Springfield, Massachusetts, the University serves approximately 4,000 students, including 2,500 full-time undergraduate students, on its main campus and at four sites throughout the Commonwealth. Undergraduate and graduate programs are offered through the University's Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Business,

5 Engineering, and Pharmacy, and graduate programs through the School of Law. In its annual Americas Best Colleges ranking, U.S.News & World Report lists Western New England University among the North Regions Best Universities Masters Category, those which provide a full range of bachelors and masters programs. -30Editors note: All of the Universitys news releases are available online at www.wne.edu/news. More information about the Polling Institute is available at www1.wne.edu/pollinginst.

TABLES

The following two questions rotated in random order in the survey. Which of the following words best describes Scott Brown? If you don't know enough to give an answer, just tell me and we'll move on.
Perceived Ideology of the Senate Candidates Scott Brown Very liberal Feb. 23 March 1, 2012 Registered voters 1% 3% 0% 0% Somewhat liberal 5% 7% 2% 5% Moderate 26% 17% 34% 30% Somewhat conservative 34% 42% 43% 28% Very conservative 7% 8% 8% 6% Dont know 26% 22% 11% 30% Refused (Vol.) 1% 1% 2% 0% N* 527 194 63 241

Democrat Party Republican Identification** Independent

* Subsamples are unweighted Ns, and consist of registered voters. Row percentages may not sum to 100 percent due to rounding ** Party identification was measured with the following question: In politics today, do you consider yourself a Democrat, Republican, Independent or something else?

7 Which of the following words best describes Elizabeth Warren? If you don't know enough to give an answer, just tell me and we'll move on.
Perceived Ideology of the Senate Candidates Elizabeth Warren Very liberal Feb. 23 March 1, 2012 Party Identification Registered voters Democrat Republican Independent 19% 15% 35% 19% Somewhat liberal 22% 32% 12% 18% Moderate 9% 10% 4% 9% Somewhat conservative 5% 4% 2% 6% Very conservative 1% 1% 0% 1% Dont know 42% 36% 44% 46% Refused (Vol.) 1% 2% 2% 0% N* 527 194 63 241

* Subsamples are unweighted Ns, and consist of registered voters. Row percentages may not sum to 100 percent due to rounding

Regardless of how you plan to vote in the Senate election, please tell me whether you think each of the following statements applies more to Scott Brown or Elizabeth Warren. (Notes: The names of the candidates were rotated in random order in the question. Interviewers were instructed to read only the candidates names with each statement, and not to read the options Neither, Both, and Dont know / Refused. Interviewers entered data for those categories, however, when respondents volunteered those answers.)

Is Honest and Trustworthy Dont know/ Refused (Vol.) 16% 11% 15% 20% 15% 16% ** 15% 15% 17% 18% 20% 13%

Brown

Warren

Neither (Vol.) 5% 2% 0% 7% 6% 4% ** 6% 5% 3% 6% 7% 4%

Both (Vol.) 14% 19% 4% 13% 12% 16% ** 13% 15% 20% 10% 10% 16%

N*

Feb. 23 March 1, 2012

Party Identification**

Registered voters Democrat Republican Independent Male Female 18-29 30-49 50-64 65 and older High school or less Some college College graduate

34% 18% 77% 37% 40% 29% ** 39% 28% 30% 42% 32% 33%

31% 50% 4% 23% 26% 35% ** 28% 37% 30% 23% 32% 34%

527 194 63 241 251 276 ** 153 193 150 107 119 300

Gender Age

Education

* Subsamples are unweighted Ns, and consist of registered voters. Row percentages may not sum to 100 percent due to rounding. ** Subgroup contains fewer than 40 respondents.

Has the Experience to Effectively Represent Massachusetts In Washington Dont know/ Refused (Vol.) 12% 11% 13% 14% 12% 13% ** 11% 11% 14% 13% 23% 9%

Brown

Warren

Neither (Vol.) 4% 4% 0% 3% 6% 2% ** 3% 2% 3% 12% 3% 1%

Both (Vol.) 8% 11% 2% 7% 7% 9% ** 8% 9% 11% 4% 5% 10%

N*

Feb. 23 March 1, 2012

Party Identification

Registered voters Democrat Republican Independent Male Female 18-29 30-49 50-64 65 and older High school or less Some college College graduate

47% 24% 83% 56% 52% 42% ** 50% 44% 43% 47% 45% 47%

29% 50% 2% 20% 23% 34% ** 28% 34% 28% 24% 24% 32%

527 194 63 241 251 276 ** 153 193 150 107 119 300

Gender Age

Education

* Subsamples are unweighted Ns, and consist of registered voters. Row percentages may not sum to 100 percent due to rounding. ** Subgroup contains fewer than 40 respondents.

10

Cares More About People Like You Dont know/ Refused (Vol.) 14% 8% 10% 19% 11% 16% ** 15% 11% 17% 10% 24% 12%

Brown

Warren

Neither (Vol.) 6% 3% 0% 7% 9% 3% ** 6% 4% 3% 12% 5% 3%

Both (Vol.) 5% 5% 6% 5% 6% 4% ** 7% 3% 7% 4% 5% 5%

N*

Feb. 23 March 1, 2012

Party Identification

Registered voters Democrat Republican Independent Male Female 18-29 30-49 50-64 65 and older High school or less Some college College graduate

35% 14% 79% 40% 41% 29% ** 36% 30% 35% 43% 27% 35%

41% 70% 4% 30% 33% 48% ** 37% 52% 38% 30% 38% 46%

527 194 63 241 251 276 ** 153 193 150 107 119 300

Gender Age

Education

* Subsamples are unweighted Ns, and consist of registered voters. Row percentages may not sum to 100 percent due to rounding. ** Subgroup contains fewer than 40 respondents.

11

Can Work With Senators From Both Parties To Solve Problems Dont know/ Refused (Vol.) 15% 11% 17% 17% 16% 15% ** 15% 10% 19% 17% 20% 13%

Brown

Warren

Neither (Vol.) 5% 5% 2% 5% 8% 3% ** 7% 3% 3% 9% 4% 5%

Both (Vol.) 9% 11% 2% 8% 8% 9% ** 12% 8% 8% 6% 6% 10%

N*

Feb. 23 March 1, 2012

Party Identification

Registered voters Democrat Republican Independent Male Female 18-29 30-49 50-64 65 and older High school or less Some college College graduate

45% 29% 77% 51% 46% 44% ** 42% 45% 46% 45% 43% 45%

26% 44% 2% 19% 22% 30% ** 24% 34% 24% 23% 26% 27%

527 194 63 241 251 276 ** 153 193 150 107 119 300

Gender Age

Education

* Subsamples are unweighted Ns, and consist of registered voters. Row percentages may not sum to 100 percent due to rounding. ** Subgroup contains fewer than 40 respondents.

12

Has The Best Ideas For Creating Jobs in Massachusetts Dont know/ Refused (Vol.) 28% 20% 16% 37% 24% 31% ** 30% 19% 29% 28% 30% 27%

Brown

Warren

Neither (Vol.) 8% 10% 6% 5% 10% 7% ** 8% 10% 7% 12% 7% 7%

Both (Vol.) 2% 2% 0% 2% 1% 2% ** 1% 2% 2% 1% 1% 2%

N*

Feb. 23 March 1, 2012

Party Identification

Registered voters Democrat Republican Independent Male Female 18-29 30-49 50-64 65 and older High school or less Some college College graduate

36% 20% 76% 40% 40% 31% ** 35% 32% 35% 39% 33% 35%

27% 49% 2% 17% 25% 29% ** 26% 37% 27% 20% 29% 29%

527 194 63 241 251 276 ** 153 193 150 107 119 300

Gender Age

Education

* Subsamples are unweighted Ns, and consist of registered voters. Row percentages may not sum to 100 percent due to rounding. ** Subgroup contains fewer than 40 respondents.

13

Will Be Tougher On Wall Street Dont know/ Refused (Vol.) 17% 9% 20% 24% 17% 19% ** 18% 11% 23% 19% 23% 16%

Brown

Warren

Neither (Vol.) 4% 2% 4% 3% 5% 2% ** 4% 4% 3% 6% 3% 3%

Both (Vol.) 1% 1% 2% 1% 1% 1% ** 0% 2% 2% 1% 0% 1%

N*

Feb. 23 March 1, 2012

Party Identification

Registered voters Democrat Republican Independent Male Female 18-29 30-49 50-64 65 and older High school or less Some college College graduate

27% 15% 53% 33% 23% 31% ** 27% 19% 27% 34% 33% 24%

50% 72% 20% 40% 54% 47% ** 50% 64% 44% 39% 40% 57%

527 194 63 241 251 276 ** 153 193 150 107 119 300

Gender Age

Education

* Subsamples are unweighted Ns, and consist of registered voters. Row percentages may not sum to 100 percent due to rounding. ** Subgroup contains fewer than 40 respondents.

14

Has The Best Ideas To Improve Health Care Dont know/ Refused (Vol.) 28% 14% 19% 41% 28% 28% ** 29% 21% 29% 29% 33% 26%

Brown

Warren

Neither (Vol.) 6% 5% 6% 6% 8% 5% ** 6% 9% 7% 8% 5% 6%

Both (Vol.) 2% 3% 0% 1% 2% 1% ** 2% 2% 2% 3% 1% 1%

N*

Feb. 23 March 1, 2012

Party Identification

Registered voters Democrat Republican Independent Male Female 18-29 30-49 50-64 65 and older High school or less Some college College graduate

25% 13% 71% 24% 27% 24% ** 27% 21% 30% 30% 27% 23%

39% 66% 4% 28% 35% 42% ** 35% 48% 32% 30% 34% 44%

527 194 63 241 251 276 ** 153 193 150 107 119 300

Gender Age

Education

* Subsamples are unweighted Ns, and consist of registered voters. Row percentages may not sum to 100 percent due to rounding. ** Subgroup contains fewer than 40 respondents.