The poll, conducted during the MAPPS annual summer conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, measured the preference of principals, owners, partners and senior professional executives of the geospatial community's leading firms.
 
"The MAPPS members clearly prefer Senator McCain based on his record on business issues, taxes, foreign policy and national defense," said MAPPS Executive Director John Palatiello.  "The margin in the poll demonstrates that MAPPS members view the 2008 Presidential election as a clear choice."
 
MAPPS members participating in a similar poll favored President George Bush over Senator John Kerry in July, 2004.  Bush went on to defeat Kerry in the November, 2004 election.
 
McCain was also the choice in a poll of spouses, guest and others attending the MAPPS 2008 summer meeting.  In a poll open to all conference attendees, McCain led Obama by a 64% to 36% margin.
 
MAPPS is the most politically active association in the geospatial community.  The association features a full time government relations staff in Washington, DC, sponsors the MAPPS Political Action Committee (MAPPS PAC), and hosts a Federal Programs Conference in March of each year in which members of MAPPS visit Capitol Hill for meetings with some 300 members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

As a nonprofit, nonpartisan association organized under section 501(c)(6) of the Interal Revenue Code, MAPPS does not endorse any candidate or party.  The poll was taken for informational purposes only and does not constitute an endorsement nor an attempt to influence any members, voters or elections.
 
Formed in 1982, MAPPS is the only national association exclusively comprised of private firms in the remote sensing, spatial data and geographic information systems field in the United States. Current MAPPS memberships span the entire spectrum of the geospatial community, including Member Firms engaged in satellite and airborne remote sensing, surveying, photogrammetry, aerial photography, hydrography, bathymetry, charting, aerial and satellite image processing, GPS, and GIS data collection and conversion services. MAPPS also includes Associate Member Firms, which are companies that provide hardware, software, products and services to the geospatial profession in the United States and other firms from around the world. MAPPS provides its members opportunities for networking and developing business-to-business relationships, information sharing, education, public policy advocacy, market growth, and professional development and image enhancement. For more information on MAPPS, please visit www.MAPPS.org.