This closes the meta-arc on how politicians want you to perceive them, how they want you to think when you're on their websites. We analyzed the messaging of Senator Clinton's "Sopranos Spoof" home page in a three part arc and followed that with a three part analysis of Governor Romney's 23 June 07 home page. Here we finishing our analysis of several campaign sites.
We're not considering the obvious changes to any site. Political sites change every day as things happen in the world. We're not really interested in the candidates' responses to other candidates, political situations or world events. What this and other columns in this series will focus on is how the designs of these websites influence how visitors to the websites think. In other words, how the politicians want you to think when you're thinking about them.
NextStage Evolution does not endorse any campaign or candidate. Our interest is purely in how campaigns and candidates communicate to different populations.
We left off asking which candidate is communicating their message in a way most of America will respond to.
Right now Governor Romney's leading the field. His V10 message is being heard and responded to by roughly two-and-a-quarter million people. More people are hearing it, of course, but it's not important how many people hear, only how many respond favorably. Those favorable responses equate to votes. Doesn't matter if people are going to his website, going to his rallies, donating to his cause, whatever. All that matters is that he's communicating a V10 message and about two-and-a-quarter million US citizens will respond positively to a V10 message. Right now, he's in the lead as far as who can best be heard.Who has the next greatest share? Next in line are three Democrats; Biden, Richardson and Edwards. In a level playing field their messages would cover a broad swath of the US population. Both Biden and Richardson are reaching about one-and-a-half million people. Senator Edwards is getting his message across to about 150,000 people. None of the other candidates -- not Senator Clinton, Senator McCain, Mayor Giuliani, Senator Obama -- are getting into the minds and hearts of a significant segment of the US population. They're being heard and seen but their not capturing minds and hearts, hence those all-important votes.
None of these numbers are big, true. But put things into perspective. The winning margins in the last election cycles were significantly less than these numbers in most states.
Over time alliances will form among the candidates. They'll perfect their messages to match what their pollsters and organizations tell them are touchpoints with the largest demographics. Time will tell.
Please contact NextStage for information regarding presentations and trainings on this and other topics.
Links for this post:
- How Politicians Want You to Think - Senator Clinton arc
- How Politicians Want You to Think - Governor Romney arc
- How Politicians Want You to Think - Who's Saying It Best, Part 1
- How Politicians Want You to Think - Who's Saying It Best, Part 2
- How Politicians Want You to Think - Who's Saying It Best, Part 3
- XChange on 20-21 Sept 07
- DC Emetrics Summit on 14-17 Oct '07
- Society for New Communications Research Annual Research Symposium & Awards Gala on 5-6 Dec 07 in Boston.
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Tracked on: August 12, 2007 12:00 PM | Permalink to Trackback