WAGGENER EDSTROM WORLDWIDE AND RT STRATEGIES POLL SHOWS DISCONTENT AMONG THE MOST ENGAGED VOTERS

NEWLY IDENTIFIED GROUP OF 'ATTENTIVE ELITES' BELIEVE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS HAVE FLAWED VIEW OF REAL WORLD

WASHINGTON, D.C. - JAN. 31, 2006 - A new survey of 1,000 adults nationwide, released today by Waggener Edstrom Worldwide Public Affairs and RT Strategies, identifies a new subset of Americans, the "Attentive Elites," who believe, among other things, that President Bush and Congress are disconnected from how dramatically the real world has changed.

Attentive Elites, which make up 15 percent of all adults, are registered to vote, college educated Americans who closely follow national politics or Washington, DC policy issues. As a group, Attentive Elites are more likely than most registered voters to be white, male, upscale, living in the Northeast or the West Coast, and are more Republican but less conservative than average. This group believes President Bush and Congress generally fail to respond to both the benefits and threats of a rapidly changing, technology-driven real world in handling important policy issues.

Among some of the most compelling results of the poll, conducted January 22-25, 2006 with a margin of error +/- 3.1 percent, are the opinions that "Attentive Elites" have on today's overall public policy discourse:

• 69 percent of Attentive Elites feel the White House and Congress are falling short of expectations and should be doing a better job responding to real world problems;
• 70 percent of Attentive Elites believe that, in light of the country's innovations over the last decade, the status quo regarding technology and telecommunication regulation doesn't make sense any longer, and they don't understand why Congress and President Bush don't seem to understand this reality;
• 58 percent of Attentive Elites feel the government and corporations are unprepared to defend against the possibility of a major attack on America's internet systems - that is, a cyber attack designed to shut down the computer systems of the government and/or major corporations.

"In the context of the extraordinarily divisive political discourse over the last month in Washington, D.C., this poll attempts to step back and capture widespread views from Americans on some of the more salient issues," said Torod Neptune, senior vice president and U.S. Public Affairs Practice Leader for Waggener Edstrom Worldwide. "We've taken a look at the issues that really matter to business leaders to capture a real world picture of what they expect from their representatives in Washington."

The poll divides all adults into three groups - 15 percent are Attentive Elites who follow politics and policy debates very closely; 50 percent are General Voters who tend to pay attention to the issues closer to Election Day; and 35 percent are Inattentives, many of whom are not registered to vote and the rest of whom do not follow politics and policy issues much at all. Additional findings include:

White House and Congress

• 58 percent of General Voters feels the White House and Congress are falling short of expectations; and,
• 35 percent of All Adults feel the White House and Congress are doing as well as can be expected.

Terrorism

• 48 percent of all adults approve of the job George W. Bush is doing with regard to the War on Terrorism. This is up from 42 percent in December 2005.

Energy/Fuel

• 58 percent of all adults say that home fuel prices concern them a great deal, while 62 percent of Inattentives say fuel prices concern them a great deal.

"What this poll really tells us is that people do not care about the partisan policy fights, but, instead, are concerned with how D.C. is going to move the country forward on these issues," said Thomas Riehle, partner, RT Strategies. "What sets this poll apart from others is that we have identified a group of 'Attentive Elite' respondents who are well-educated and follow D.C. policy issues closely and demonstrate clearly different points of view. Overall, this group is highly dissatisfied with the inability of D.C. to realistically comprehend how the actual world has changed."

There is little support among Attentive Elites (19 percent) for the status quo on telecommunications regulation. This group would like to see the changes in the real world telecommunications marketplace reflected in some form of new regulatory scheme that either regulates all companies providing services or substantially reduces regulation in this area in order to promote greater competition.

With the traditional divisions between content and service providers blurring, Attentive Elites feel new competition and choice will protect consumers now that some former technology monopolies have been breached. The poll shows that Americans believe the country needs new rules that allow for the regulation of services, regardless of which company offers a particular service. This runs counter to the current Washington, D.C. discussion and debate around the rewrite of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

Additionally, these elites see opportunity in the telecommunications advances; yet, many still have concerns about the lack of response to telecommunications innovation and the threat of new technologies that may pose a risk to America's telecommunications infrastructure systems .

The poll also found that Attentive Elites are extremely uncomfortable with the partisan tone and tenor of discussions taking place in Washington, D.C., finding them almost exclusively focused on Democrats versus Republicans, and Bush versus Congress.

About Waggener Edstrom Worldwide
Waggener Edstrom Worldwide provides public relations services using its Innovation Communications methodology optimized for global organizations impacted by innovation and change. The agency's approach facilitates the acceptance of new ideas and helps clients tell the stories that alter the way people think, act and buy around the world. Founded in 1983, the agency has nearly 600 employees with U.S. headquarters in Seattle, European headquarters in London and Asian headquarters in Hong Kong. Waggener Edstrom Worldwide partners with pioneering and creative clients, including Affymetrix, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), MasterCard International, Microsoft Corp. and T-Mobile USA. More information may be found at http://www.WaggenerEdstrom.com.

About RT Strategies
RT Strategies, a bipartisan polling and strategic consulting firm was founded in 2005 by veteran pollsters Thomas Riehle, a Democrat, and Lance Tarrance, a Republican. The firm will produce a weekly national omnibus poll with varying participation by outside groups, including political party organizations and lobbying firms. Riehle was recently head of Ipsos Public Affairs, where he began the Ipsos/Associated Press poll. Prior to working for Ipsos, Riehle worked at Peter D. Hart Research Associates. Tarrance founded the Houston-based polling firm Tarrance & Associates in 1977, which he ran until 1992. He was on the Board of Directors of the Gallup Organization, and later was president of Gallup China in Beijing. More information may be found at http://www.RTStrategies.com

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For questions, please contact:
Rapid Response Team, Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, (800) 574-9850, rrt@WaggenerEdstrom.com