Campaign Management Strategies - 20 Marker

Question 1

Intro

Answer 1

Political parties make use of various campaign management strategies at election time

All political parties make use of the media, new technology as well as grassroots methods

It’ll be argued grassroots methods like canvassing aren’t as effective as new technology strategies like voting targeting software

Media strategies like social media will also be discussed but this is still not as effective as the use of new technology

Question 2

Canvassing - Point

Answer 2

Some people would argue grassroots methods like canvassing are the most effective campaign management strategy

Question 3

Canvassing - Explain

Answer 3

Involves workers going door to door to make contact with voters & aiming them to vote for party

May also be used to assess party support levels in an area

Question 4

Canvassing - Example

Answer 4

Labour grassroots org, Momentum, trained volunteers to extend the reach of their message in 2017 election

Canvassing has been one of their key strategies

Question 5

Canvassing - Analysis

Answer 5

Highly effective, allows parties to communicate key policies & why it’d be in their interest to vote for their party

Also allows them to directly address concerns of voters

Question 6

Canvassing - Rebuttal Point

Answer 6

Relevance can be questioned as canvassers need to be targeted at correct voters

Question 7

Canvassing - Rebuttal Explain

Answer 7

Poorly organised canvassing can limit the effectiveness of this strategy

Identified by Labour’s analysis of their defeat in 2019

Report identified that their canvassing wasn’t targeted effectively

Question 8

Canvassing - Rebuttal Example

Answer 8

During the 2017 General Election campaign trial, Theresa May & Ruth Davidson went door knocking in Aberdeen & when May knocked in front of the media, no one answered

Question 9

Canvassing - Rebuttal Analysis

Answer 9

The success of canvassing depends on how many people politicians are able to engage with when on a campaign trial

Question 10

Social Media - Point

Answer 10

Other people would argue media strategies like social media are the most effective

Question 11

Social Media - Explain

Answer 11

Social media allows parties to reach populations quickly at little cost

Parties making increased use of social media like Twitter

Have enabled parties to engage younger voters who may have been less engaged by traditional methods

Question 12

Social Media - Example

Answer 12

Labour spent expenses promoting #forthemany on Twitter

Was worth it as 66% of younger voters voted Labour

Question 13

Social Media - Analysis

Answer 13

Highly effective, enables parties to reach a varied demographic who are able to gain a better understanding of the party

Question 14

Social Media - Rebuttal Point

Answer 14

Influence of social media shouldn’t be overestimated as shares don’t translate into votes

Question 15

Social Media - Rebuttal Explain

Answer 15

Younger people are more likely to use social media but often group least likely to vote

People can share a video but it won’t matter if they don’t vote

Question 16

Social Media - Rebuttal Example

Answer 16

Labour claimed they won the online election but in reality their share of the vote fell by almost 8%

Question 17

Social Media - Rebuttal Analysis

Answer 17

Despite young people being most active on social media, it can fail to influence them to vote

Question 18

New Technology - Point

Answer 18

New technology & voter targeting software most effective method

Question 19

New Technology - Explain

Answer 19

Parties making use of new technology to target voters with messages

Can also improve effectiveness of grassroots campaigns by processing voter data which enable these parties to be more effective when using their resources

Question 20

New Technology - Example

Answer 20

Nationalists system “Activate” is a database of all voters in Scotland

SNP targeted 20/44 demographic which helped them win 56/59 seats in 2015 UK General Election

Question 21

New Technology - Analysis

Answer 21

Most effective strategy as parties effectively use Activate to ensure they appeal to target demographics

Question 22

New Technology - Rebuttal Point

Answer 22

Ethical questions can be raised over its use making it less effective

Question 23

New Technology - Rebuttal Explain

Answer 23

Maximising potential of modern technology needs an army of volunteers to be effective

Question 24

New Technology - Rebuttal Example

Answer 24

Serious concerns raised about how data is shared especially after Facebook Cambridge Analytica scandal where millions of personal data was obtained to target them for political advertising

Question 25

New Technology - Rebuttal Analysis

Answer 25

Less effective as there’s not enough proof to show people their data is protected

Question 26

Overall Conclusion

Answer 26

New technology most effective rather than traditional grassroots methods

New technology has an increasing impact on people’s lives the importance for political parties at election means it’s becoming more important than traditional methods as a way to persuade voters

Has potential to reach many voters at little cost

Allows parties to be more efficient in microtargeting voters

Using technology like databases helps parties gain an understanding of certain groups & makes them vote for a party

Newspaper circulation declining, social media becoming more important & is allowing parties to tailor messages to voters

Doesn’t mean other methods aren’t effective but new tech is most important as importance will increase