Public pressure campaign tactics

by Thomas Mills, Politics NC, February 4, 2016.

Ted Cruz created a firestorm in the days leading up to the Iowa caucuses when he sent out a letter meant to encourage people to go vote. He used a tactic called “social pressure” by some and “shaming” by others. It’s also a tactic that derived from research about what motivates people to go the polls. Despite the negative press, it appears to have worked for Cruz.

For years, consultants like me used to try to scare people into the polls with limited success. We would tell them that if they didn’t go vote, bad things would happen because people who didn’t have their interests at heart would get elected. We had nothing to show that it worked but we didn’t have research on what did.

Then, about 10 years or so ago, researchers decided to start testing what worked and what didn’t. Instead, of scaring people into the polls, research showed that people wanted to be part of the crowd—or at least didn’t want to be pointed out as being outside of a social norm.

The researchers sent people copies of their voting histories showing that they had not voted while their neighbors had. The mailings increased participation significantly. In contrast, messages that tried to goad people by other methods proved ineffective.

So, political strategists started employing social pressure in their get-out-the-vote programs. They would send official-looking letters that say something like, “Our records indicate that you haven’t voted in recent elections.” Included were often a list of people who lived near them who did vote and the message would encourage them to join their friends and family at the polls.

While the strategy continues to work, it also frequently comes with criticism like Cruz got. Even though voting records and histories are public record, the letters have a big brother feel to them. People complain to boards of elections and reporters frequently write about the outrage.

After a handful of stories, critics of the tactic often claim that it backfired and that people actually were deterred from voting. However, no data to date has shown they are right. The letters go out to tens of thousands of people. The complaints come from a few dozen or so people. The people who actually respond the social pressure or shaming probably don’t read newspapers or watch much local news so they’re most likely oblivious to the controversy. They just get to the polls so they don’t get a letter like that in the future.

Candidates like Cruz are using research tested techniques. If they can stand the scrutiny and criticism from the press and more informed electorate, they’re probably making the right decision. However, weathering a negative media storm in the final days of a campaign is certainly no fun while it’s happening and should be part of the calculation before using social pressure mailings

http://www.politicsnc.com/its-a-shame/