All in the Message
Winning Hearts and Minds
Drew Westen, Ph.D.
Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009

An experiment
What networks are active at Fox?
Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009

Suppose someone knew how to shape
and activate networks in voters?
Volvo-driving
Tax and Spend
Elite
Godless atheists
LIBERAL
Sushi-eating
Cut and run
Big government
Special interests
Latte-drinking
Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009

How were Democrats so
successful at losing for so long?
The conservative catechism

The conscience of a liberal progressive

Examples from health care

S-CHIP

People who work for a living ought to be able to

take their kids to the doctor
Universal health care

A family doctor for every family

The uninsured and the underinsured

Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009

Three principles of effective
messaging
Tell a compelling, memorable story

If you don’t feel it, don’t use it

Know what networks you’re activating

Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009

Principle 1: Tell a
coherent, memorable story
We are a story-telling species

Grab-bags of facts, policies, and 12-point plans lack

Emotional resonance

Memorability

Clear principles (the moral of the story)

Your policies should reflect your values, not the other way

around
What happens when you don’t tell a story: you lose

Jim Martin’s introduction to the people of Georgia

Hillary’s Christmas

A tale of tale ads: Obama’s Christmas

Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009

The four stories that matter
the most in a campaign
What you say about yourself

What your opponent says about him/herself

What your opponent says about you

What you say about your opponent

Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009

Principle 2: If you don’t feel
it, don’t use it
Human behavior is motivated by emotion

The structure of traditional Democratic arguments

Jim Webb’s response to the State of the Union

Beyond words: Images, music, and “hooks” to personal

experiences generate emotions
Positive and negative emotions are not the opposites of

each other
You don’t win with half a brain

It’s 3am, and don’t believe everything you hear in focus

groups
Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009

Why does speaking with emotion
matter?
Feelings toward the parties and their

principles
Feelings toward the candidates

Feelings toward the candidates’ personal

attributes
Feelings toward the candidates’ policies

Facts about the candidate’s policies

Trickle Up Politics

Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009

Principle 3: Know what
networks you’re activating
Do you really want your Secretaries of Defense

and Commerce to be Republicans?
A methodology for developing messages that

work
Study the existing data, particularly polls

Develop and focus-group narratives and taglines

Online polling and dial-tests

Refine and test again

Later, rinse, repeat: An example on immigration

A case example: Messaging abortion

Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009

Are Georgians pro-life? (Westen Strategies and Lake
Research Partners, October, 2007)
I’m not pro life, I’m not pro
choice, I’m pro common
sense. No one truly knows what’s
in the mind of God, and the
government shouldn’t be telling a
man and a woman when they
should and shouldn’t have kids
based on somebody else’s
interpretation of Scripture. But
people shouldn’t be using abortion
as birth control, and they shouldn’t
be able to get late-term abortions
except when the mother’s health
or life is in danger.
Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009

A Strong Progressive Message on Abortion (Westen
Strategies and Greenberg, Quinlan, & Rosner, January, 2009)
Message Rating, 0 - 10
% Rating 8-10 % Rating 6-10
Abortion is a matter between a
woman, her doctor, and her 56 67
\\
God. This is a moral and a personal
issue, not a political one, and 0 20 40 60 80 100
politicians need to stop using it to
Vote on Abortion
try to score political points. But we
need to do everything possible to
Democratic candidate Republican candidate
reduce the number of unwanted
pregnancies, teen pregnancies, and 57
abortions. That means teaching our 51
kids not only about abstinence but
41
39
also about responsible use of birth
control, so that all the children born
in this country are wanted children.
Total Independents
Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009

A Strong Progressive Message on Abortion (Westen
Strategies and Greenberg, Quinlan, & Rosner, January, 2009)
Message Rating, 0 - 10
% Rating 8-10 % Rating 6-10
Freedom and responsibility go hand in
hand. That's why I'm both pro-choice and 56 64
\\
pro-personal responsibility. Politicians
shouldn't intrude on a woman or couple's most
personal and painful decisions, and no one has 0 20 40 60 80 100
the right to use government to impose their Vote on Abortion
religious beliefs on somebody else. A woman
should be able to trust that the advice she gets
Democratic candidate Republican candidate
from her doctor reflects what her doctor really
believes, not something the government forced
58
her doctor to say. But that doesn't mean people 56
should engage in unprotected sex and use
abortion as a form of birth control. The best 39
36
way to reduce abortions is to reduce unwanted
and teen pregnancies. That means making sure
every adult has access to medically accurate
information and birth control, and providing
honest, age appropriate sex education to our Total Independents
kids. Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009

Conscious and unconscious responses to
racial ads in the 2008 Presidential election
Racial stealth ads: Kwame Kilpatrick

Conscious vs. unconscious prejudice

We developed and tested two advertising

approaches to reducing the impact of unconscious
prejudice
 Activate voters’ conscious values
 Address voters’ unconscious concerns and
conflicts directly
Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009

Favorability Ratings for Five Ads
Mean Favorability Ratings for Ads
7.5
ALL GOD'S CHILDREN 1*
7.4
ALL GOD'S CHILDREN 2*
5.5
I'M AN AMERICAN - WOMAN
5.5
I'M AN AMERICAN - MAN
3.6
RACIST
Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009 15

Subliminal response to Obama
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Kwame I’m an I’m an All God’s All God’s
Kilpatrick American American Children Children
(racist) (Female) (Male) (2 families) (3 families)
Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009

What applies in elections applies
in governing
Lessons from the stimulus package

Never let attacks go unanswered

Tell the story of how we got in this mess or you’ll own it

Tell a coherent story about deficit spending

Don’t count on government to re-brand itself

Lessons for the Obama agenda: Don’t give away

the store when you can give away the labels
Salazar and expanding offshore drilling

The alternative government health care plan

Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009

Conclusions
A campaign is not “a debate on the issues”

 The economy was the deciding issue in the 2008 Presidential election
 6 in 10 voters reported having no idea how Obama intended to fix it
An effective campaign is a set of values-based, emotionally compelling

narratives
An effective campaign is one that moves voters

In the words of that great unsung political strategist, Duke Ellington…

Contact: dwesten@westenstrategies.com
Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009

The Democratic primary election of
2008
What Went Wrong?

Nothing Went Wrong

A tale of two ads: Christmas in Iowa

Hillary’s Christmas

Obama’s Christmas

Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009

A tale of two ads
Bill Clinton’s first ad in 1992

John Kerry’s first ad in 2004

Identical surface

structure, divergent emotional
structure
Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009

Conclusion: Lessons from the
past
The aftermath of Selma

The face of a child

Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009

Countering stealth racial attacks
Distinguishing conscious and unconscious

prejudice
Theoretically, two approaches to reducing the

impact of unconscious prejudice
 Activate voters’ conscious values
 Address voters’ unconscious concerns and
conflicts directly
Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009

Race in the race: The 2008
Presidential election
The only way to beat Obama: to make him not “one of us”

Muslim, B. Hussein Obama, Pledge of Allegiance, Fox News:

terrorist fist-bump and Barack as Michelle Barack’s “baby
mama,” National Review: need to see his birth
certificate, John McCain: The American President Americans
Have Been Waiting For, John McCain: Country First
Countering racial stealth attacks: Distinguishing conscious

and unconscious prejudice
Two approaches to reducing the impact of unconscious

prejudice
Activate voters’ conscious values

Address voters’ unconscious concerns and conflicts directly

Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009

Racist ad (Kwame-Obama association)
“Obama: I want to first of all acknowledge
you’re a great Mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick. He
is a leader, not just in Detroit, not just in
Michigan, but all across the country people
look to him. We know that he’s going to be
doing astounding things for many years to
come. I’m grateful to call him a friend and a
colleague. I’m looking forward to a lengthy
collaboration.”
[Text overlay: YOU SHOULD KNOW WHO
BARACK OBAMA’S FRIEND ARE]
Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009

Favorability Ratings for Five Ads
Mean Favorability Ratings for Ads
7.5
GOD'S CHILDREN 1*
7.4
GOD'S CHILDREN 2*
5.5
I'M AN AMERICAN - WOMAN
5.5
I'M AN AMERICAN - MAN
3.6
RACIST
On a scale from 0 - 10, please say how you feel about this ad overall, with 10 meaning a very WARM, FAVORABLE feeling, 0 meaning a very
COLD, UNFAVORABLE feeling, and 5 meaning not particularly warm or cold.
Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009 25
*Shown to half the sample

Subliminal response to Obama
All God’s Children (3 families)
Effect size (SD)
All God’s Children (2 families)
I’m an American (Male)
I’m an American (Female)
Kwame Kilpatrick (racist)
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009

What applies in elections applies in
governing
Governing requires the same principles of

messaging as campaigning
Lessons from the stimulus package

Never let attacks go unanswered

Tell the story of how we got in this mess or you’ll own it

Tell a coherent story about deficit spending

You have to re-brand government

Why a Democrat doesn’t want his Secretaries of

Defense and Commerce to be Republicans
Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009

Conclusions
A campaign is not “a debate on the issues”

The economy was the deciding issue in the 2008 Presidential election

6 in 10 voters reported having no idea how Obama intended to fix it

An effective campaign is a set of narratives embedded within

a values-based, emotionally compelling master narrative
An effective campaign is one that moves voters

Contact: dwesten@westenstrategies.com
Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009

A tale of two ads
Bill Clinton’s first ad in 1992

John Kerry’s first ad in 2004

Identical surface

structure, divergent emotional
structure
Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009

Conclusion: Lessons from the
past
The aftermath of Selma

The face of a child

Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009

The Shrinking of the
Presidency
How the 2008 Election was Won
Drew Westen, Ph.D.
Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry
Emory University
Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009

Subliminal response to Obama
All God’s Children (3 families)
Effect size (SD)
All God’s Children (2 families)
I’m an American (Male)
I’m an American (Female)
Kwame Kilpatrick (racist)
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009

Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009