Connecting with Voters

Methodology

  • Lake Snell Perry & Associates, Inc. conducted four focus groups in two cities: Detroit, Michigan and St. Paul, Minnesota in January 2001.
  • In suburban Detroit, one group was comprised of mixed education pro-choice women over the age of 60 and another of college educated pro-choice women under the age of 55. In suburban St. Paul, one group was comprised of non-college educated pro-choice women under the age of 55. All participants were screened to exclude strong partisans.

Overview

  • The research confirmed the important role that phones play in both persuasion and mobilization efforts and helped reveal the strengths and weaknesses of various types of messages and messengers.
  • Respondents talked about phones as being uniquely engaging and distinct from other media because they are one-on-one and direct.
  • Voters made clear distinctions between the commercial calls they heard (e.g., MCI Long Distance) and political calls, and found political calls to be useful and informative.
  • Phones may be one of the better vehicles to present contrast information credibly and not seem gratuitously negative.
  • While phones need to be reinforced with other communications, they can play an important role in agenda-setting and getting voters to receive information in a focused, uninterrupted way.
  • Phones should be integrated into campaigns earlier - many participants described the deluge of calls in the final two weeks as overwhelming and difficult to sort through.

Type of Call

  • Live calls are more personal and feel more interactive than recorded messages. They have the potential to engage the respondent more but are also more dependent on the quality of the delivery
  • With a good delivery, a live call is the most effective means of contact.
  • Mobilization calls were appreciated by the participants. They liked being reminded of an upcoming election, particularly in the off-years when they tend to pay less attention to politics. They also liked being told when a race was close and said such circumstances would make them more likely to turn out.

Message

  • Keep the message simple. It is possible to overwhelm a respondent with too much information. Whether a message focuses on a single issue or multiple issues, it needs to be concise and comprehensible.
  • Verbal delivery of the message is inextricably linked to its effectiveness in persuading or mobilizing a respondent. If the presentation of the message is clear, articulate, and sounds sincere, it lends immense credibility to the message and, for live calls, helps form a more personal bond between the caller and the respondent.
  • Respondents valued most the calls that provided information from independent sources (3rd party validators), and generally found organizations to be more credible than candidates.
  • While there was no evident preference for single vs. multiple-issue messages, single-issue messages tend to be less confusing, can provide deeper information, and help clarify distinctions between candidates.
  • Facts, statistics, and specific references to votes add credibility to a message, particularly a negative or contrast message.
  • Comparisons of voting records were an effective way of drawing distinctions between candidates. This was particularly true for messages that focused on choice and the environment.
  • Directing respondents to websites, which has been effectively incorporated into other means of political communications, is an equally good innovation for phone messages, lending them both credibility and verifiability.
  • The participants believed that because many organizations are often issue-driven, they will only support candidates who are truly praiseworthy on that issue.
  • Campaigns are unique messengers in that they provide information that voters perceive to be relatively unfiltered. Candidates should avoid too much self-promotion, and stick with positive messages. If negative contrasts are required, they should be implicit.
  • The focus group participants believed that while organizations would often present only a part of candidate’s record in order to satisfy their own issue-specific agenda, campaigns allowed them to learn about a candidate’s overall profile and accomplishments in his or her own words.
  • Participants liked hearing positive information about the candidates directly from their campaigns, and in particular from the candidates themselves. Personal calls can add credibility and sincerity to a message.
  • Keeping message content simple and delivery clear, articulate, and engaged is paramount, but taking shortcuts on callers only hurts the effectiveness of the calls.