Ottawa, 16 April — Prof. Drew Westen, clinical psychologist, principal of Westen Strategies, LLC, and author of The Political Brain spoke on Effective Political Communications to Canada 2020.
Bill Clinton called Westen’s ground-breaking examination into the role of emotion in the political life of the nation, “The most interesting, informative book on politics I’ve read in many years.”
3. 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
4. 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
5. 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
6. 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
7. 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
8. 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
9. 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
10. 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
11. 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
12. 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
13. 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
14. 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
15. 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
16. 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
17. 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
18. 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
19. 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
20. 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
21. Conclusion: Lessons from the
past
The aftermath of Selma
The face of a child
Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009
22. 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
23. 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
24. 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
25. 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
26. 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
27. 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
28. 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
29. 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
30. Conclusion: Lessons from the
past
The aftermath of Selma
The face of a child
Delivered to www.canada2020.ca on April 16, 2009
31. 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
32. 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