In my priority, if there is two projects, one have the escrow and one doesn't have it then, of course, I would go for the one have it in a heartbeat. I wish escrow would be a mandatory for every bounty campaign in bitcointalk.
Yes, the project choice is always open to be chosen by each bounty participant, but all participants will obviously choose what they believe in and he likes according to the considerations he has researched first, such as his escrow and others as well.