Politics 101
2012-02-14 - by
A lot of times people ask me about political campaigns: How are they run? What matters? What doesn’t?
In fact, most political campaigns are simple. More often than not they boil down to one fact: Who voters know. Because when a voter walks into a voting booth if he knows one candidate and not the other he votes for the one he knows.
Here’s an example: George Holding has taken two polls – of people who vote in Republican primaries – in his Congressional race against Paul Coble.
Now, you might think after five years as U.S. Attorney, and with all the high profile cases he prosecuted, George would be well known. And that Paul Coble, who’s been running for political office in Raleigh for 19 years, would also be well known – especially among Republican voters.
You’d be wrong on both counts.
Only about a quarter of the voters recognized Paul Coble’s name and slightly fewer recognized George’s.
Which may sound surprising but it’s not – because most local officials, State Senators, State Representatives, City Councilmen, have about the same name identification Paul Coble had. Which if you think about it makes sense. Because most voters get their news from TV: Fox News, CNN, CBS, NBC and ABC.
You’ll see the President on the news every night. And most nights you’ll see one or more of the Republican Presidential candidates. But you don’t see the Secretary of Agriculture very often and when was the last time you saw a story on CNN or Fox News or any of the national networks about a Wake County Commissioner? Never.
WRAL and WTVD and the News and Observer carry a lot of state political news but it’s mostly about the Governor. So, naturally, almost everyone knows the Governor. But how about the Lieutenant Governor? A recent Democratic poll showed almost 60% of the Democrats didn’t know Walter Dalton. And that number would be lower if the poll had included Republicans.
Another poll showed 81% of the voters don’t know the Speaker of the State House.
And what about local elected officials? I looked at WRAL’s website and the last time they mentioned Paul Coble in a story was last July.
So the race between George Holding and Paul Coble is about ‘name identification’ – who voters know. So how can George Holding and Paul Coble talk to the 50,000 voters in their primary? There’re four ways: TV, radio, the Internet, and direct mail.
Both Fox News and Rush Radio are good places to buy ads to talk to conservative Republicans but in the end when it comes to reaching tens of thousands of voters broadcast news (like WRAL and WTVD) is the nuclear weapon of politics. Because they reach virtually all the voters.
And that’s Politics 101.
Posted in General, North Carolina - Republicans
Politics 101
2012-02-14/
A lot of times people ask me about political campaigns: How are they run? What matters? What doesn’t?
In fact, most political campaigns are simple. More often than not they boil down to one fact: Who voters know. Because when a voter walks into a voting booth if he knows one candidate and not the other he votes for the one he knows.
Here’s an example: George Holding has taken two polls – of people who vote in Republican primaries – in his Congressional race against Paul Coble.
Now, you might think after five years as U.S. Attorney, and with all the high profile cases he prosecuted, George would be well known. And that Paul Coble, who’s been running for political office in Raleigh for 19 years, would also be well known – especially among Republican voters.
You’d be wrong on both counts.
Only about a quarter of the voters recognized Paul Coble’s name and slightly fewer recognized George’s.
Which may sound surprising but it’s not – because most local officials, State Senators, State Representatives, City Councilmen, have about the same name identification Paul Coble had. Which if you think about it makes sense. Because most voters get their news from TV: Fox News, CNN, CBS, NBC and ABC.
You’ll see the President on the news every night. And most nights you’ll see one or more of the Republican Presidential candidates. But you don’t see the Secretary of Agriculture very often and when was the last time you saw a story on CNN or Fox News or any of the national networks about a Wake County Commissioner? Never.
WRAL and WTVD and the News and Observer carry a lot of state political news but it’s mostly about the Governor. So, naturally, almost everyone knows the Governor. But how about the Lieutenant Governor? A recent Democratic poll showed almost 60% of the Democrats didn’t know Walter Dalton. And that number would be lower if the poll had included Republicans.
Another poll showed 81% of the voters don’t know the Speaker of the State House.
And what about local elected officials? I looked at WRAL’s website and the last time they mentioned Paul Coble in a story was last July.
So the race between George Holding and Paul Coble is about ‘name identification’ – who voters know. So how can George Holding and Paul Coble talk to the 50,000 voters in their primary? There’re four ways: TV, radio, the Internet, and direct mail.
Both Fox News and Rush Radio are good places to buy ads to talk to conservative Republicans but in the end when it comes to reaching tens of thousands of voters broadcast news (like WRAL and WTVD) is the nuclear weapon of politics. Because they reach virtually all the voters.
And that’s Politics 101.
Posted in General, North Carolina - Republicans