Anti-Trump Messaging

[lpetrich]

“Dems in Array.” | Crooked Media - this podcast has a section on someone who did a poll on which messages did best against President Trump and which did the worst. From best to worst:

• The specifics of his failed response: availability of tests, ventilators, and funds for surviving the pandemic.
• Slashing the safety net: food stamps and the like.
• The necessity of structural economic change: increase the minimum wage, limit CEO pay, put workers on corporate boards, etc.

How a Digital Ad Strategy That Helped Trump Is Being Used Against Him - The New York Times

Campaigner James Barnes had worked for the Trump campaign in 2016, and he is now working against Trump. Here is how he is finding out what messages work well and what don't. Working for a PAC called Acronym in a project called Barometer, his work involves selecting people online, showing ads to some of these people, then requesting participation in surveys.

They chose known and possible voters in 5 states: AZ, MI, WI, PA, and NC. States that were selected because they are likely battleground states in the election.

The audience is further whittled through the survey, which features fact-based questions like who controls the House or the length of a Senate term. The audience that is unable to answer those questions is considered among the most persuadable with ads.

The findings show that voters with low political knowledge and low news consumption, Mr. Barnes said, “support the idea that when folks have just kind of a lower baseline of information, we actually can persuade them by just showing them more of the information that’s true.”

Some of the team's results are surprising. Impeachment was not received very well, but the killing of Iranian military commander Qassim Suleimani was. More effective than traditional negative ads was "boosted news" like clips of Tucker Carlson criticizing Trump for that act.

Boosted news and conservative commentary was also good about the virus - the Acronym people like that result because buying news-clip placement is cheaper than making one's own ads.

“The Democrats have a last-mile problem when it comes to persuadable voters,” said Dan Pfeiffer, a Democratic strategist who worked on both of President Barack Obama’s campaigns. “Republicans have Fox News and a gazillion Facebook-friendly conservative media, and we as a party have relied anachronistically on the mainstream media.”

...
Pacronym ads have responded accordingly. For most of early April, the group’s ads attacking Mr. Trump’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak highlighted past statements in which he played down the risk of the virus.

But after their testing on the coronavirus was completed in mid-April, the group found that focusing on the plight of health care professionals, rather than on some of Mr. Trump’s earlier comments, had a greater impact.

Like nurses making protective garments out of trash bags.

 

[lpetrich]

Digital Ad Strategy Shows Impact on Voters’ Views of Trump - The New York Times
Going into more detail, like testing a Tucker Carlson clip vs. a New York Times article. The TC criticism did better than the NYT article.

Another add was about the virus:

• Boosted news featuring healthcare workers criticizing the Federal Gov't's response.
• Traditional sort of attack ad.
• Negative news clips strung together.

The results were varied. For 18- to 34-year-olds, the health care workers were among the most effective messengers at driving voter enthusiasm, while the traditional political ad had little to no impact. For “low news consumption voters,” the negative news clips had a greater impact on driving down approval of the president.

Another test was a negative ad vs. some voter testimonials.

The graphic, which compared corporate profits with wages under the federal tax law from 2017, had a statistically significant impact over all on voters’ approval of Mr. Trump.

But the testimonials resonated more with “low political information” voters, including one video, titled “Jerry,” that also prompted a decline in trust for Mr. Trump’s handling of economic issues.

 

[Elixir]

The audience is further whittled through the survey, which features fact-based questions like who controls the House or the length of a Senate term. The audience that is unable to answer those questions is considered among the most persuadable with ads.

That has to terrify the TCF, given the strong correlation of political ignorance with voting for Trump.

The findings show that voters with low political knowledge and low news consumption, Mr. Barnes said, “support the idea that when folks have just kind of a lower baseline of information, we actually can persuade them by just showing them more of the information that’s true.”

Apparently this dynamic stays in effect even while the "information that's true" exists in a sea of confabulations, fabrications, misinformation and misdirection. That would be really terrible news for the TCF. Time to look at rigging the vote count!

 

[TV and credit cards]

The audience is further whittled through the survey, which features fact-based questions like who controls the House or the length of a Senate term. The audience that is unable to answer those questions is considered among the most persuadable with ads.

That has to terrify the TCF, given the strong correlation of political ignorance with voting for Trump.

You know, Trump would have gotten half credit on that one. I can see the whole family sitting around arguing it out:
"Dad, I think it's six."
"No daddy, it's forever if they want."
While Trump looks back and forth between his two closest advisors. And a future Trump presidential hopeful is in the background squirting lighter fluid on a cat.

This real-time testing project aims to help fill that gap. Called “Barometer,” the project has been the obsession of James Barnes, the former Facebook employee who was heralded as an “M.V.P.” of the 2016 Trump campaign and has since dedicated his professional life to undoing the results of the last presidential election.

I guess this passes for introspection for the data driven mind. Keep doing the same thing you're doing, except for the other side. Oh well. I guess it's the best we can hope for.

“The thing that Facebook does really well, and the thing that I learned pretty extensively at Facebook, is how to measure things,” Mr. Barnes said. “As I considered what I wanted to do after Facebook as I went through sort of this political transformation...

Bullshit. How about:

I was ashamed of what I did for money and...

“The Democrats have a last-mile problem when it comes to persuadable voters,” said Dan Pfeiffer, a Democratic strategist who worked on both of President Barack Obama’s campaigns. “Republicans have Fox News and a gazillion Facebook-friendly conservative media, and we as a party have relied anachronistically on the mainstream media.”

My bold.
Not the word I would have chosen. I would have went with "searching for the truth by reading this thing (I still call) the news."

Oh well. here's to seeing if the tool the Republicans used four years ago will work for the Democrats today.
Meanwhile the Republicans are off inventing a new death ray to obliterate the planet Liberal.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I'd hammer on health care, trying to dismantle ACA, school meal programs, and high speed internet. The pandemic has proven that high speed internet is a necessity (10 Mbps at the bare minimum). I think there is a misunderstanding as to how robust our safety nets are.