Salary Survey Extra is a series of periodic dispatches that give added insight into the findings of our most recent Salary Survey. These posts contain previously unpublished Salary Survey data.
Politics is not our thing here at Certification Magazine. Certification is our thing. Conducting surveys, as most readers know, is also our thing. In conducting those surveys, gathering IT certification data and salary data is our foremost concern. That's not going to change any time soon.
About the middle of last year, however, we made a minor change to our process. Realizing that our salary surveys can be a little dry, we decided to season the mix a bit by asking a few additional questions (10) each time. When we publish previously undisclosed data from each new survey in posts like this one, we typically include findings from one of those add-on questions. Some are goofy, and others have a little heft.
Since Feb. 1, we've been posting new data each Friday from our annual Salary Survey. At the end of last week, with Super Tuesday looming, it seemed like a fitting moment to unveil survey respondents' collective take on a question that's probably starting to loom large in the minds of many: Hillary or Trump?
The former Secretary of State roundly trounced the tycoon (scroll down the page when you get there), apparently laying to rest the Trump vs. Clinton question, at least when it comes to certified IT professionals. While the question was binary in form, however, we offered a few soothing alternatives (something that probably won't exist come November) to folks on both sides of the partisan divide who just couldn't bear to dance with the devil they know.
Then, over the last 48 hours, the tempest in the electoral teakettle hit a Super Tuesday boil. Suddenly Americans are contemplating mass migration to Canada, and 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney convened a speech for the sole purpose of telling America, in essence, "Please, for the love of all that's holy, do not vote for Donald Trump." Not only that, but a certain movie in which actor Aaron Eckhart returns to the role of (literally) embattled POTUS opens at theaters on Friday.
As was recapped last week, three of the alternatives we offered to our stark presidential poser were 1) moving to Canada, 2) casting a wistful "where did you go, Joe DiMaggio?" glance in the direction of Romney, and 3) getting Aaron Eckhart reappointed from Hollywood's Oval Office to the real deal. Crazy, right?
In our initial analysis, Romney did almost as well as Trump, with both falling well short of Hillary. Then we realized that we had inadvertently biased the results by summarizing the response from the entire body of survey takers (more than 11,700 IT pros worldwide) instead of restricting our view to survey respondents who live in America. Here's what happens when you add that filter:
Hillary — 27.7 percent (original result: 40.3 percent)
Trump — 23.2 percent (17.1 percent)
Where's Mitt Romney when you need him? — 22.5 percent (16.1 percent)
I'm moving to Canada to blaze a J with Trudeau's kid. — 13.6 percent (13.2 percent)
Aaron Eckhart, but only if Mike Banning is his top Secret Service guy — 7 percent (5.9 percent)
Both, but Trump has to be Hillary's veep — 6 percent (7.4 percent)
In the course of his "anyone but Trump" address in Salt Lake City, Romney did not announce an 11th-hour bid to enter the race, as some had speculated that he might. On the other hand, should the thought cross his mind — well, we know of at least one poll that suggests he might do well at (Step One) luring Republican voters away from Donald Trump, and (Step Two) possibly leading the charge against Hillary Clinton.
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