MTI Flashcards
1
Q
Review the definition of (public) communication campaigns.
– book
A
Public Communication Campaigns: purposive attempts to inform or influence behaviors in larger audiences within a specified time period using an organized set of communication activities and featuring an array of mediated messages in multiple channels generally to produce non commercial benefits to individuals and society.
2
Q
What is the point about the universal quality of campaigns, and below what is the comparison to commercial marketing?
A
The campaign as process is universal across topics and venues, utilizing systematic frameworks and fundamental strategic principles developed over the past half century. Campaigns across many spectrums show some similarities to commercial advertising campaigns. Thus, it is useful to apply social marketing, which emphasizes an audience-centered consumer orientation and calculated attempts to attractively package the social product and utilize the optimum combination of campaign components to attain pragmatic goals.
3
Q
Note the segment on identifying the audience, and pay attention to message efficiency and effectiveness.
A
Rather than attempting to reach the broad public, campaign designers typically identify specific (often “at risk”) segments of the overall population. There are two major strategic advantages of subdividing the public in terms of demographic characteristics, predispositions, personality traits, and social contexts. First, message efficiency can be improved if subsets of the audience are prioritized according to their centrality in attaining the campaign’s objective as well as receptivity to being influenced. Second, effectiveness can be increased if message content, form, style and channels are tailored to the attributes and objectives of subgroups.
4
Q
Focal Segment
A
Focal Segments: subpopulations that might benefit from the campaigns because they are at risk for harm or in need of help or improvement
- most campaigns aim messages directly at focal segments
5
Q
Influencers
A
Influencers: opinion leaders who are in a position to personally influence focal individuals
- a major advantage of the interpersonal relationships is that the influencer can customize the messages to the unique needs and values of individuals in a more precise and context relevant manner than most media messages.
6
Q
Policy Makers
A
Policy Makers: responsible for designing constraints and creating opportunities that shape focal individuals decisions and behaviors.
7
Q
Note the two basic strategic approaches
A
Prevention campaigns: present fear appeals to focus attention on negative consequences of a detrimental practice rather than promoting the desirability of a positive alternative
- most potent in cases where harmful outcomes are generally threatening or positive products are insufficiently compelling
Social Marketing Perspective (Promotion Campaigns): especially applicable to promoting desirable behavior, which involves offering rewarding gains from attractive “products (e.g. tasty fruit, etc)
⇒ Note!!! Central strategic consideration in determining the degree of difficulty is receptiveness to the focal segment
8
Q
What are awareness messages
A
Awareness messages: present relatively simple content that informs people what to do, specifically who should do it, or provides cues about when and where it should be done.
9
Q
What are instruction messages
A
Instruction messages: preset how-to-do-it info, in campaigns that need to produce knowledge gains or skills acquisitions, including enhancing personal efficacy in bolstering peer resistance and acquiring media literacy skills.
10
Q
What are the five major aspects of strategic message dissemination
A
The five major aspects are: 1) total volume of messages, 2) amount of repetition, 3) prominence of placement, 4) scheduling of message presentation, and 5) temporal length of campaign.
- A substantial volume of stimuli helps attain adequate reach and frequency of exposure as well as comprehension, recognition, and image formation.
- A certain level of repetition of specific executions facilitates message comprehension and positive affect toward the product, but high repetition produces wear out and diminishing returns
- Placement prominence of messages in conspicuous positions within media vehicles (e.g. front page of a newspaper, heavily trafficked billboard locations, etc) serves to enhance both exposure levels and perceived significance.
- Scheduling of a fixed number of presentations; depending on the situation, campaigns may be most effectively concentrated over a short duration, dispersed thinly over a long period, or intermittently by bursts of flighting or pulsing.
- Length, the realities of public service promotion and problem prevention often require exceptional persistence of effort over long periods of time to attain a critical mass of exposures.
11
Q
What is the author’s point about campaign’s impact
A
“Most experts conclude that contemporary public communication campaigns attain a modest rather than strong impact, notably on the health behaviors… particularly due to meager dissemination budgets, unsophisticated applications of theory and models, and poorly conceived strategic approaches.”
12
Q
What are public service campaigns
A
Public service campaigns: campaigns where their goals are widely supported by the public and policy makers.
13
Q
What are advocacy campaigns
A
Advocacy campaigns: campaigns where the goals are controversial
14
Q
What were the typical campaign stakeholders prior to World War II
A
voluntary associations, mass media, and the federal government.
15
Q
What additional stakeholders became common after World War II
A
foundations, trade unions, and corporations.
16
Q
Note the concept and an example of Objective campaigns
A
focuses on one group’s intention to change another group’s beliefs or behaviors. This definition comes to the fore when intentions are controversial… change objectives may be accomplished through a communication campaign or through nonverbal communication strategies.
17
Q
Note the concept and an example of Methods campaigns
A
what the campaign does… a conventional mix of brochures, posters, advertisements, and commercials or an array of communication methods
18
Q
What are the three E’s of public communication campaigns? You need to know what each of these means in the conduct of communication campaigns.
A
Education – public communication campaigns focus here – ex) safety belt campaigns
o Typically involves modifying knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, or behavior; it is the predominant communication arm of social change (e.g polio virus)
Engineering – developing programs, movements, or technology to facilitate the campaign
o Typically occurs with the development of a technology or innovation that can alone remedy the solution
Enforcement – implementing the campaign
o Typically involves the passage of laws, the use of coercion, or other forms of mandating change (e.g. seat belt laws, immigration vaccination laws, and mandated child safety protection)
19
Q
What is agenda
A
what the public feels is important.
20
Q
What is entitlement
A
either law, public policy, or public acceptance that gives the public rights etc
o Constitutional entitlement is a given in the US.
o Public acceptance is the final test of entitlement
21
Q
What are second party advocates
A
A second party group is one that gets involved in someone else’s grievances. Second party groups will step forward to serve as advocates, sometimes putting themselves at risk as surrogate first parties.
Ex) Whales, seal pups, and future generations of Americans are the first parties of campaigns, but they are not their own advocates. Some save-the-whales groups increased their entitlement when the public saw them risking harm on the ocean.
22
Q
Note the authors three basic characteristics of public communication campaigns in the 18th, 19th, and 20th Century.
A
- Prior to 1800, American public communication campaigns were often conducted by strong-willed individuals who reached the public through the pulpit or the printing press.
- 19th century… issues that are entrenched in law or custom may require decades of lobbying, campaigning, and confronting the opposition. The numeric strength and continuity of associations have proved to be invaluable in achieving reform over the long term. Abolition associations were the first to adopt the modern form of local chapters coordinated by a headquarters office.
- At the end of the 19th century, the initiative for refroming many social problems shifted from associations to the mass media. Many of the problems, by their very nature, were not the rallying causes of organized activity. New printing technologoes, the rise of literacy, and momentous national events combined to put more publications in the public’s hands than ever before in history. The 20th century reform passed into the hands of civil service as most of the reforms conceived by the muckrackers had to be reared by government officials.
23
Q
How did government change re: public communication campaigns in the 20th Century?
A
Responding to pressure form reformers, muckrackers, and public opinion at the dawn of the 20th century, the federal government was drawn into causes that were far removed from its original charter… many social reform laws to the Constitution (e.g. 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act, 1910 White Slave Traffic Act, 1916 Child Labor Act)
24
Q
What does the author mean by public distrust
A
Public distrust: The last third of the 20th century saw a crisis in public trust that threatened to undermine public communication campaigns… notwithstanding the wrongs revealed in this second era of American muckracking, many negative events after WWII had positive
25
What does the author mean by episodic issues
Episodic issues: issues rise and fall on the agenda according to external factors such as crises, incidents, and the appearance of effective advocates on the national scene. Some issues are solved by actions or events; they drop off the national agenda until they become unsolved again. Many persisting issues are subject to issue fatigue; they leave the agenda for a time then return with new advocates or proposals… An issue by any other name is a different issue… ideological based issues tend to fluctuate according to which political party they are in
26
What does the author mean by issue literacies
issue literacies: the problem of too many issues, too little time has led to creative strategies to reclaim our attention. Many advocates now contend that their concern is not an issue but a literacy. In recent years the public has been urged to attain scientific literacy, technological literacy, legal literacy, sexual literacy, and much more… at one level, the redefinition of issues as literacies is only as strategy to regain attention in the crowded marketplace of issues. At another level, this trend acknowledges the complexity of issues like cancer prevention and treatment.
27
How does the author define human rights
Human Rights: The essential idea that people have rights that is inherent in their humanness and not contingent on states.. .“recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.”
28
Note the description of the three traditions of communication and social change scholarship
- Infrastructure: the oldest tradition of scholarship (and of applied investments in communication) focused on the role of communication infrastructure rather than on the content of communication; it was not interested in deliberate, persuasive campaigns but only in building up the capacity to do communication
- scholars argued that if access to information technology was high and governments assured the free flow of information and a free press, this would create “modern societies” featuring “democratic institutions.”
- -Effects: second tradition of research extends the focus on technology diffusion and institutional rules around technology to consider the effects of the content spread by the technology. Not concerned with deliberate efforts to “sell brotherhood like soap” but rather with the effects of content typically diffused by media sources.
- Important info regarding human rights
- Agenda setting = convincing an audience that they ought to be paying attention to a specific issue
- Framing = to convince audiences that when they think about an issue they ought to be understanding it in a particular way
- -Purposive, contend-specific uses (e.g., campaigns): third major research tradition… the one that bears most directly on building interventions to ameliorate human rights concerns… is about purposive uses of communication technology to educate, persuade, and produce social change – what are called public communication campaigns (e.g. the focus of this book)
- This goes beyond the diffusion of technology and beyond the effects of the typical media content toward deliberate attempts to influence behavior
29
What are the two types of communication campaigns
Controlled Communication Campaigns: campaigns where producers develop specific messages and transmit them through well-defined channels with an expectation that they will produce measurable behavior change
Public Relations Campaigns: make use of press releases and other materials to encourage attention to an issue by media and other institutions.
30
Note the different types of campaign focuses
Campaigns focused on low-cost, high-reward behaviors: Ex) campaigns to reduce SIDS
o These cases are rare as few things are simple and highly rewarding and otherwise unknown to an audience
Campaigns linked to substantial changes in the material environment: Ex)
Long-lived, long-term programs: Ex) Anti-smoking campaign
31
What are the basic issues human rights communication would need to address?
- Poor messages: many communication programs confuse the goal of their program with the messages they need to distribute. Programs often put a lot of resources into producing pretty messages (nice formats, attention getting) but spend too little on understanding how target audience members think about their behavior of concern.
- Too little exposure: many serious communication efforts fail because their good messages are not seen or heard at all or are not or heard with sufficient frequency to be persuasive. Even when substantial effort goes into message creation, there may not be sufficient funding to purchase exposure or not an adequate strategy to earn free exposure.
o getting sufficient continuing message exposure is a crucial problem to be solved for any human rights agency that intends to make use of public communication
- Individual persuasion when the behavior belongs to social networks or institutions: much of the history of communication has been focused on persuading individuals to change their behaviors. Even for issues when individual behavior is the focus of a campaign, this may not always be the most efficient strategy. If a behavior is open to influence from an individual’s social network, then it may prove productive to focus a campaign on changing social norms and only through social norm change try to influence individual behavior (e.g. making it illegal to smoke inside the workplace makes it harder to smoke it work making it less likely to smoke)… many human rights issues are about institutional change
- It is not really a communication problem: if the problem is one of lack of material resources to permit changes, or if current circumstances are consistent with interests reflecting the distribution of power in a society, is communication really a solution? Sometimes it is in the interest of policy actors not to change policy; they understand the issues and human rights arguments behind change, but think that change is not in their own interests or the interest of the constituencies who support them (especially relevant to environmental campaigns)
- Confusing communicating with doing something about a problem: communication efforts can make actors feel like they’re doing something, which is not the same as doing something. Agencies that turn to public communication to address an issue are either: (ideally) trying to make things better or (maybe just) trying to look like they are doing something… because communication is a public intervention, it carries with it a particular risk of allowing the appearance of action to replace effective action or to create other outcomes.
32
Purposive communication is likely to be effective in what circumstances?
It is likely to be effective because it influences behavior over the long run through lots of exposure, through the use of multiple channels, and because it produces incremental rather than dramatic change.
33
Campaign evaluation research encompasses what stages?
1. Formative Stage = evaluation research encompasses collection of info about audiences
2. Process Evaluation = to assess implementation as the campaign unfolds
3. Summative Evaluation = to track campaign impact
34
What are the two types of formative research?[
- Preproductive research: data are accumulated on audience characteristics that relate importantly to the medium, the message, and the situation within which the desired behavior will occur.
- Production testing (pre-testing): draft prototype messages are evaluated to obtain audience reactions prior to final production
35
Formative evaluation draws upon what?
Draws upon concepts and influence processes from theories, models, and frameworks in communication, social psychology, marketing, and health education.
36
During the preproduction stage what does the analyst try to learn?
the strategist seeks to learn as much as possible about the intended audience before articulating goals and developing strategies. Specifically, the research helps identify intended audiences and focal behaviors, specify significant intermediate response variables, ascertain channel exposure patterns, and determine receptivity to potential message components.
37
For what is formative research useful regarding audience subgroups?
it is useful in identifying high-priority subgroups by gathering data about which categories of individuals are most relevant to the campaign goals, which are most receptive to media persuasion on the topic (through which media) and which are in a position to influence interpersonally the intended audience.
38
Understand the five types of pretesting discussed
1. Focus Group Interviews: a form of qualitative research adapted by marketing researchers from group therapy. They are conducted with a group of about 5-10 respondents simultaneously. Using a discussion outline, a moderator builds rapport and trust and keeps the session on track while allowing respondents to talk freely and spontaneously. The moderator must be experienced and knowledgeable as they must probe further and lead the group.
2. Individual In-Depth Interviews: used for pre-testing issues that are very sensitive or must be probed very deeply and for respondents who are difficult to recruit for focus group interviews, such as physicians, dentists, and CEO’s. These can last a long time(30min-1hr) and are used to assess comprehension as well as feelings, emotions, attitudes, and prejudices. Despite being very costly and time consuming, they may be the most appropriate form of pretesting for sensitive subjects (e.g. breast reconstruction)
3. Central-Location Intercept Interviews: involve stationing interviewers at a location frequented by individuals from desired intended audiences and, after asking a few screening questions, inviting qualified respondents to participate in the pretest… One advantage is that a high-traffic area can yield many interviews in a reasonably short time. Second, it is cost effective means of gathering data. Disadvantage, the method is obtrusive because respondents know they are participating in a test, their responses may be less valid.
4. Self-Administered Questionnaires: used to pretest concepts and rough messages. They can be mailed to respondents along with pretest materials or distributed at a central location. Advantage – Internet has enhanced this approach making it inexpensive, speedy, and encourages broader participation. Disadvantage: low overall response rate, tendency toward self-selection of individuals who have either strongly positive or negative responses to the pretest materials, and sample biases relating to respondents being Internet users.
5. Theater testing: uses forced exposure to test rough television message executions in controlled settings. Testing takes place with several hundred randomly recruited representatives of the message’s intended audiences; responders are seated in a group of about 25 people around a large TV monitor. The test spots are embedded among other TV commercials in TV program material to camouflage the intent of the testing situation and simulate the home viewing context… asked to recall all messages they remember by brand name, product type, etc.. followed by diagnostic questions… provides an opportunity to use electronic devices to record and display moment-to-moment evaluation of messages.
39
What is the article’s conclusion regarding pretesting and formative research?
By collecting preproduction information and feedback reactions to pretest theoretically derived versions of the message concepts and executions, campaign designers are in a much better position to devise more effective campaign plans and messages before final production and full-scale dissemination. Formative evaluation facilitates the development of more sophisticated campaign strategies, helps avoid pitfalls, and improves the quality and effectiveness of the created messages.
40
What is evaluation?
the systematic application of research procedures to understand the conceptualization, design, implementation, and utility of interventions (here, communication campaigns).
41
What are the three functions of evaluation research
1. Determine the expected impacts and outcomes of the program
2. To help planners and scholars understand how or why a program succeeded or failed – that is, the theoretical and causal as well as implementation reasons – increases the likelihood that successes can be repeated and failures avoided in future behavioral promotion programs.
3. To provide information relevant for planning future activities
42
What are the 3 phases of evaluation research
1. Formative research (learned it in Ch. 4)
2. Process research (monitoring)
3. Summative research (outcome)
43
The authors conclude with what point about the dissemination of findings of campaign studies?
disseminating information to foster a more informed and hence more empowered populace represents a significant means to improve the quality of life for all.
44
Note the definition of campaign effectiveness
- Campaign effectiveness: the ratio of achievements divided by expectations… in other words, an achievement or accomplishment is deemed successful or unsuccessful relative to what is desired or expected. When the denominator – the expectation – is high, the numerator – the outcome – will have to be proportionally greater magnitude for it to be judged a success.
45
What is definitional effectiveness
- It pertains to the success that groups have in defining a social phenomenon as a social problem. When a certain condition has been accepted as socially problematic, it reflects the ability of some claims-making organization to get an issue onto various agendas (e.g. media, public, etc) and achieve consensus that one issue is more worthy of political and financial capital than a competitor.
46
What is ideological effectiveness?
The success a campaign has at modifying personal knowledge, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors rather than to modify the political and economical environments in which those attitudes, intentions, and behaviors occur.
47
What is political effectiveness?
Campaigns constitute a type of symbolic politics… campaigns are often politically palatable strategies for social change because they resonate with such cherished democratic themes as the value of education, an enlightened populace, a preference for individual-level change through the exercise of free will rather than coercion, and the merits of evolutionary rather than revolutionary change.
o Ex) the indoor ban on smoking tobacco
48
What is contextual effectiveness?
- Context is assessed along with the impact of a campaign… look at the 3 E’s (specifically sub bullets)
- Based on the campaign and situation, each of the three various mechanisms of social change need to be altered – best to be used in unison rather than exclusively
49
What is cost effectiveness?
Effective campaigns are those that reach the “right” individuals without similarly motivating the “wrong” individuals (i.e. appropriate audience segmentation and targeting) with a message that reaches them in a palatable manner (i.e. exposure and tailoring).”
50
What is programmatic effectiveness?
Every information campaign is, or at least ought to be, driven by goals and objectives that specify the nature and degree of impact sought. When campaign performance is measured against these goals and objectives, an assessment of programmatic effectiveness can be made through a direct comparison between objectives and outcomes.
51
What distinguishes effects and effectiveness?
Both represent interpretations of communication outcomes but they differ in terms of the key dimension of intentionality…. Effectiveness constitutes a subset of the larger category of effects, that is, the subset of effects defined in terms of preexisting goals and intentions.
52
Communication campaign (lecture)
an "idea transmitting or sharing process that is part of an organized course of action to attain a particular good"
53
Campaigns are intended to:
- Generate specific outcomes/effects
- need to know your objective, be precise (used President election, why would they pay money as a democrat for ads in California)
- In a relatively large number of individuals
- not communication among institutions, friends, etc.
- Usually within a specified time period
- Through an organized set of activation
54
What is persuasion
Human communication designed to influence others by modifying their beliefs, etc
55
Features of persuasion
- Success (it is not persuasion unless it works)
- Criterion (a goal that has to be obtained)
- Intent
- Freedom
- Effects through communication
- Change in mental state
56
What is credibility
Credibility is attributed by audience (members) [i.e. everyone in audiences doesn't give the same individual the same amount of credibility]
trustworthiness + competence + dynanism
- trustworthiness fluctuates (i.e. Kobe got dropped out from McDonald's ads because of sexual assault case)
57
Target Audience
Those capable of making a communicator's message effective
58
Aristotle's Proofs
Logos - logical
Pathos - emotional
Ethos - character
59
Bill Clinton at Democratic Convention -- observations
- Speech is about more than words (it's more like words)
- Pathos dimension is very high
- Pseudo-event/ something that doesn't have a reason to exist (no substance) -> an athlete holding a press conference to announce their retirement
- choreography... control... image
- pseudo-intimacy (recipe for success is feeling like you know the people, even though you really don't)
60
A campaign is more than...
A campaign is more than a single act of public advocacy ... but not so broad as a social movement
61
What is a social movement
collective challenge, common purpose, solidarity
| Ex) civil rights
62
Observations on Persuasion and Politics
- "You" are the message (book title)
- persuasion requires conformity to the dominant frame (i.e. an accepted set of ways American politics would work)
Ex) Right now, there's no way an Atheist will be elected as President, or a Muslim
- A candidate has to build a base (of support) (e.g. a group of core supporters... through thick and thin)
- Stature is created by building a successful campaign
- In debates and primaries, "winning" is a function of performance relative to expectations
Ex) Bill Clinton finished 2nd in the New Hampshire primary, but Clinton was still considered the "winner" as it proved he could win (the guy that got 1st was from the area)
- Politics is about comfort and familiarity
- Successful politicians tend to link themselves to a particular issue
63
Observations on the War Room Documentary
- Political consultants are: masters of spin (turning interpretations to their favor), advertise the executives, "lawyer" like skills, speech writer/editor, historians, motivational speakers, demographers, "accountants" (manage money)
- other concepts: damage control, quick response (importance of being first), primacy of political handlers, political/entertainment parallel
64
Factors in deciding electoral outcomes
Communication variables
- Ex) slogans, speech making, ad campaigns, etc
Situational or material variables
- Ex) things going on in people's lives -- economy
65
Observations on "Our Brand is Crisis" documentary
- (think of) politics as marketing -- globalization or marketing
- availability to express something simply and convincingly (=politics)
- relevance, simplicity, repetition (KNOW THIS)
- the worst of both worlds... campaigns move fast but last a long time
- the primacy (or central role) of political handlers
- like a lawyer: claims your client's rights and deny your client's responsibilities (referring to political handlers)
- "A slave to strategy"
- You don't pay for concepts, you pay for their application (when you hire a political adviser)
- "Make him dirty" = "going negative"
- Importance of quick responses... damage control
- Daily (or frequent) tracking polls
- Political polls become spokespersons
66
Elite Theory
How change happens (early 20th century)
Origins
- V. Pareto: "Every people is governed by an elite"
- G. Mosca: "In all societies, two classes appear - one that rules and one that is ruled"
- P. Michels: "The iron law of oligarchy (=rule of the few)"
- all large organizations are oligarchies
67
A Ruling Class
- wealth,ownership, public opinion -- shaping
- foundations; think tanks; university institutions
- political influence through
- candidate selection; political interest; policy making
- socially cohesive
68
(Astro)Turf Wars
CSE(Citizens for a Sound Economy) is funded by lots of companies (like tobacco) to rag on the government
- rich orgs involve everyday Americans to basically tackle the government
69
Was the Obama win "big" or "small"?
The Obama was neither as big as some Democrats and members of the media have made it to be nor as small as some of the GOP faithful would like to think.
70
What does the author claim about the Obama and McCain campaign teams?
The Obama campaign team was neither as brilliant as the news analysis articles have made them out to be nor was the McCain campaign team was inept as some stories have portrayed them
71
Review the basic analyses of the vote
a. 1st, actual results – Obama flipped 9 Bush 2004 states
b. 2nd, quick look at turnout – less evangelicals/GOP base stayed home and more black/youth came out
c. 3rd, exit polls – Obama over-performed John Kerry’s numbers in all demographics
72
What did Obama accomplish that was "unique"
Obama did something unique in this election by winning men. There has been a structural gender gap in place since the early 1980’s, when men gravitated to the GOP primarily because of Reagan and never left.
73
You should be acquainted with the 13 reasons given why Obama won. If any of these are unclear, ask! Note that these are political concepts but nearly all of them have political implications.
a. It was simply the right time
b. Obama had a singular, consistent theme from day one and he ran on it for two years: “Change”
c. By contrast, John McCain never settled on an agenda-setting national theme or message
d. The ultimate irony is that Obama defined McCain rather than the other way around.
e. Without Hillary Clinton, there probably would not be a President Obama.
f. Palin did not make a difference one way or another.
g. Obama won the middle.
h. McCain had three shots to change the trajectory of this election and he failed in two out of the three.
i. Obama won the big moments.
j. Obama had a lot more money and used it.
k. McCain’s defense of the economy was the beginning of the end.
l. McCain’s support of the bailout was the end of the end.
m. The battlefield favored Obama overwhelmingly
74
Are robo-calls effective in campaigns?
No, they will not make a difference in the presidential race, they create a big disturbance, but they do not have a prolonged effect.
75
What does the author think of the effectiveness of text message?
The author thinks that they are ineffective both as tools of mobilization and persuasion
76
What is the central tenet of voter mobilization
a. Personal appeals work better than impersonal ones.
b. Having campaign volunteers visit voters door-to-door is the “gold standard” of voter mobilization efforts. On average, the tactic produces one vote for every 14 people contacted.
77
4. What is the cost per voter of text message persuasion?
Costs as low as $20,000 to reach 1 million voters
78
How does texting affect turnout?
a. Studies show that text-based get-out-the-vote appeals win one voter for every 25 people contacted. Text message costs about 6 cents per contact – only $1.50 per new voter.
b. Door to Door = $29 for each new voter and phone calling = $38
79
What is the potential telemarketing downfall to texting?
a. As this grows popular, if telemarketing companies can get ahold of our cell numbers and we get barraged by political spam, text-based mobilization efforts may eventually become as useless as robo-calls.
80
You should have a basic understanding of Ron Paul’s political philosophy. What kind of relationship has he had with the Republican party?
Ron Paul’s basic political philosophy is that government should cut down on spending and the government spends a lot on needless things. He is not supported by the Republican Party (I believe). “In congress, Paul usually stands alone.”
81
Who gathers under the Tea Party banner, according to the article? Know what these descriptions mean.
Angry conservatives, disaffected independents, Glenn Beck disciples, strict constitutionalists, and assorted malcontents.
i. “This heterodox mass distrusts the political establishment and believes the federal government has grown dangerously large.”
ii. “Above all, Tea Party followers share a profound objection to unchecked spending and expanding credit, as successive administrations and the Federal Reserve have done to the tune of trillions of dollars.”
82
Paul is what to the Tea Party
Paul is not the Tea Party’s Founder, or its culturally resonant figure, but something more like it’s brain, it’s Marx or Madison. He has become its intellectual godfather and it’s actual father.
83
Consider the implications for a political campaign of this statement: “it has upended the consensus that has prevailed around fiscal and monetary policy since the Great Depression.” – not sure what this means so I’ll just put the whole paragraph for you.
In February, Paul startled the Republican establishment by handily winning the presidential straw poll at the annual meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference, a big event for party insiders. As the Republican Party swings into line behind him, it has upended the consensus that has prevailed around fiscal and monetary policy since the Great Depression, pressuring the Fed and blocking any additional stimulus. With the Tea Party gathering force, Paul is at last where he has always wanted to be: in the vanguard of a national movement.
84
Paul is adherent to what economic tradition
Paul enjoyed anything about the Austrian school of economics
85
Note the tensions described in the article between Paul and the mainstream Republican Party on a range of issues.
a. Mainly money issues.
b. “Less popular ideas have included eliminating most federal agencies, ending government funding of education, repealing federal laws against drugs and prostitution (he favors state laws), and cutting military spending.”
86
What changed the perceptions many had of Ron Paul going into the 2000's
a. Not sure on this one, but I believe it would have to be the recession after 9/11 and just overall government spending.
b. “THEN EVERYTHING CHANGED. The housing bubble burst, banks stopped lending, and the Federal Reserve became an object of contempt.”
87
How have Paul’s ideas about economics shaped the upcoming election?
People are starting to think about the Federal Reserve and money issues, favors Paul greatly
88
Review the 10 items discussed in "What Campaign Managers won't tell you". You don’t need to memorize them but should be able to recognize them.
a. We handle CEO-worthy budgets,
b. But we never took accounting 101.
c. The do not call registry can’t touch us. – robocalls can call for politics
d. We’d rather not discuss our pasts. – “the more the news talks about the campaign, the less they’re talking about why a candidate should be elected.”
e. We did well in the polls? We made the polls. – polling data is often used to persuade voters to not just vote for a candidate, but to also open up their wallets.”
f. We like winning…cash bonuses.
g. The money you send doesn’t reach us. – percentages go to budget, and candidates party
h. We’ll work for (almost) anyone. – its not uncommon to see some intraparty switching of support – some candidates have a better chance of winning
i. This job is a stepping-stone – to stardom. – “says he doesn’t know anyone getting out of politics who isn’t hoping to get into TV”
j. Sometimes we play dirty…very dirty
89
Note the point about the legality of political phone calls
A whopping 69 percent of registered voters received automated calls – coming from most businesses, this kind of harassment is against the law – but the law doesn’t apply to candidates.
90
Note the point about poling data being used strategically by campaigns
Roughly 10 percent of a campaign’s budget goes to research, which includes public polling and digger up dirt on the competitor (“opposition research”), and if the numbers come back to the candidates’ favor, the campaign managers will trumpet them, or find a way to spin negative numbers into something more positive.
91
Note the point about party-to-party and intraparty switching of support by campaign managers
But ultimately, it comes down to who has the best chance of winning.
92
Review the 12 reasons Obama won and Romney lost. You don’t have to memorize them but should recognize them.
a. Enough of an economic recovery
b. Obama’s superior campaign
c. Obama’s lack of a primary challenger
d. The auto bailout and Obama’s union support
e. Romney’s extended primary season, part 1
f. Romney’s extended primary season, Part 2
g. Romney’s diffidence about his wealth
h. Romney’s diffidence about his Mormon faith
i. The late start of debates with Obama
j. The charisma gap
k. Moderate Mitt vs. ‘severly conservative’ Mitt
l. Hurricane Sandy
93
Obama went into the election facing what? Specifically, what are the author’s examples?
Obama went into his reelection fight facing significant head wings – most important, high unemployment and slow economic growth
94
In which areas did the Obama campaign excel?
Team Obama’s skill in messaging, fundraising, strategic planning, micro-targeting voters, and getting out the vote carried into the 2012 cycle.
95
How did the extended primary affect timing negatively for Romney?
Since Romney did not clinch the nomination until the end of May, it delayed his ability to fundraise for and focus on the general election
96
Note the conclusion why Obama won and Romney lost
Conservatives weren’t sure they could trust him, and moderates weren’t sure he would really have the political freedom to be one of them if he won the white house
97
What was the organizational revolution of the Obama campaign?
President’s Barack Obama’s team has worked another revolution in method, using social media, micro-targeting and distributed grassroots activism.
98
Why didn’t the billionaires financial advantage for Romney triumph?
“People such as Linda McMahon, Sheldon Adelson, and Karl Robe spent hundreds of millions of dollars and did not get what they wanted. Obama and the Democrats aggregated small donations in a way that blunted the billionaire advantage. It’s no reason to give up on overturning Citizens United, but it was reassuring
99
Read the Latino section closely – it will tell you something about where U.S. politics are headed.
“This is now a bilingual country, culturally and politically.”
100
What is the Napoleon factor?
“Napoleon once observed that one of the key attributes in judging a general was whether the man possessed a lucky streak. He felt that some people seemed to get better breaks than others no matter what their capabilities. The financial panic helped Obama win.”
101
What does Forbes mean by “the ground game”?
Identifying likely voters and getting them to come out – democrats dominated this game
102
What is Forbes point about “agenda,” and explain what he means.
The president dominated the agenda by shaking off anything that negatively affected him and made the negative points on Romney shine.
103
Review Forbe’s 5 points
a. The Napoleon Factor
b. Obama Dominated the Ground Game
c. Romney Allowed the other side to define & GOP Agenda
d. Romney failed because his campaign failed to deliver positive substance
e. GOP Convention missed opportunity
104
What did the author claim the Obama team understood better than their Republican rivals?
Obama ‘s team understood social media better than their Republican rivals
105
Read the first paragraph slowly a few times – it’s the thesis of the article (by Pace)
“In the end, President Barack Obama won re-election exactly the way his campaign had predicted: running up big margins with women and minorities, mobilizing a sophisticated registration and get-out-the-vote operation, and focusing narrowly on the battleground states that would determine the election.
106
What does the author claim about Obama and negative campaigning in this campaign?
Negatives – sluggish economy and high unemployment made Obama vulnerable + the first debate gave Romney some power. The Obama team started to transform the race from a referendum on Obama’s economic record into a choice between the president and Romney.
107
What are the two factors “that Romney simply couldn’t blunt?”
a. One was Bill Clinton, the popular former Democratic president who became an exceptional surrogate, holding dozens of campaign appearances for Obama and vouching for his economic record.
b. The second was Sandy, the storm that struck the East Coast during the final full week of the campaign. Obama scrapped three days of campaigning and returned to Washington to manage the government’s response
