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Brand Marketing Techniques Can Change Voting Behavior
Our mission is to use modern brand marketing techniques to motivate people who normally don’t pay attention to or even vote in down race elections or in primaries by applying a key “call to action” campaign focused on a key wedge issue. Our current wedge issue is “reducing gun violence” and our call to action is to educate voters by zip codes about the approach that candidates for election see as the answer to “reducing gun violence”. We are non-partisan and educational and that means showing every candidate’s solution or approach. More about “brand marketing.”
What Needs to Be Done to Tip the Balance in Elections
The main factor is getting a large group of voters who would support sensible gun legislation to turn which we call the “muddled middle” is to get them motivated. Too many voters are often busy, less informed, less motivated. But when confronted with something that really gets their attention they will turn out. And “reducing gun violence” is one of those issues.
Our objective is to set up a unique call-to-action program using targeted zip code mailings designed to capture the attention of the busy, often poorly informed, and less motivated voters who can be missed in the vast barrage of ads on TV, Radio and the newspapers, if anyone follows them anymore. And social media is also a log jam of competing messages. What is needed is a simple direct message that does not take much time to absorb. Zip code direct mailings can perform that mission. Just think that if you are reviewing your mail and see a simple postcard with a basic message on one side (“Where do your candidates stand on “reducing gun violence” with a succinct list of candidates and their positions on the reverse side. This can be the critical motivating call to action that makes a difference. And in most competitive districts elections are decided by less than 10% of the votes cast.
Our Number One Priority: Sensible Gun Legislation
The second amendment speaks of a “well-regulated militia”. The gun lobby and their political allies interpret this as meaning no regulation.
Recent polls indicate 7 out of 10 Americans want sensible gun legislation. Why does nothing get done?
One of the main reasons gun legislation has so much difficulty in getting passed is because those who support such legislation don’t turn out at voting time.
2018 Prority: National Senate and House Races
Important 2018 midterm elections at the national level have a very good chance to turn the country around. Electing legislators interested in “reducing gun violence” will be most effective at the national level And due to the particular dynamics of the current political environment many voters are expected to revolt against the current political leadership and its non-mainstream orientation and focus on the special interests of the wealthy.
That is why it is so important to find those districts and candidates where the elections are most competitive and let the voters have a chance to change the direction of legislation. And then let the voters know which candidates reflect their interests on “reducing gun violence”.
The Standard Formula To Control Your Government
It is popular to campaign against special interests in elections. Unfortunately these are mostly just empty promises. The fact is that the special interests like the gun lobby have a well honed formula to promote their diverse and often nefarious agendas. Here is a generalized statement of how it works.
- Support candidates that know how to campaign on the hot button issues that appeal to motivated voters. (Jobs, reliqious values, family values and lower taxes are typical but there are others). Support primary efforts as this is often where the elections are won.
- Promise the candidates your support (more than one is often supported) and make sure they understand your interests which are not usually mentioned in campaigns.
- When elected continue to support these elected officials and make sure they vote your way using techniques such as providing bill writeups, closed hearings, last minute riders to important legislation and other techniques that are not particularly transparent and don’t receive much media coverage.
- Appear at forums such as ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council* to essentially provide the marching orders for state and congressional elected officicals and their staffers.
Our Number One Case Study: Gun Interests
The gun lobby and their political allies are clearly in control of state legislatures and congress, and currently, the presidency. The main reason for this is that the “intensity” factor among those who oppose any gun legislation is very high ensuring high voter turnout to support candidates who can be expected to oppose gun regulations. The “intensity” factor is particularly important in generating turnout at primary elections which often nominate candidates with the most extreme positions and who win in enough general elections to consistently and effectively block compromise and meaningful consensus on a wide range of middle of the road legislation.
Politicians who defend the gun lobby’s interest almost always respond to the latest horrific crimes that are increasingly common with arguments that are almost always of the “red herring” type. A “red herring” argument is an argument that changes the subject and is mainly used to divert attention from a more direct and useful solution but unpopular with those who throw out “red herring” arguments. A list of those “red herring” arguments is listed at left.
Research Indicates Gun Owners Vote More Often Than Non-Gun Owners
“To understand mobilization and political participation, you need to account for gun ownership” (details in study cited below).
Our objective is to interupt this disturbing dynamic by mobilizing opinion amongst non-gun owners as well as the more responsible among gun owners.
Two important findings from this study:
“The profile of a typical gun owner has also shifted over the last 30 years. In the 1980s, more than 60 percent of gun owners said they owned firearms for hunting and 25 percent said they owned guns for protection, according to the Pew Research Center. Today, two-thirds of gun owners say they own guns for protection and less than 40 percent cite hunting as a reason for owning a firearm.
The voting gap difference between gun owners and non-gun owners also widened over time, nearly doubling between the 1992 and 2012 presidential elections. ”
Full Story on this research finding here
Quote of the Moment: Gun violence is a important non-partisan issue.
(Interview with Ohio 12th district voter.) Ms. Halliday asked (candidate Patrick O’Connor’s) stance on gun control, things got brighter fast. Mr. O’Connor said he favored an assault weapons ban, along with preventing people with domestic violence records and mental illness issues from having guns. “Do you take money from the N.R.A.?” she asked. “No,” Mr. O’Connor replied. “I have an ‘F’ rating from the N.R.A.”
With that, Ms. Halliday, who voted for President Trump in 2016, said she would vote for Mr. O’Connor. (NY Times July 13, 2018)
Simple Donation System
* Alec Case Study In Special Interest “Behind the Scenes” Control Of Legislatures
Alec is a national consortium of state politicians and powerful corporations, ALEC presents itself as a “nonpartisan public-private partnership”. But behind that mantra lies a vast network of corporate lobbying and political action aimed to increase corporate profits at public expense without public knowledge. For a mind blowing narrative on how they operate to control American poitical world below the radar at the state and congressional level see the Bill Moyers documentary “The Unites States of Alec”.
**States That Don’t Regulate Guns
For a link to states that do and don’t regulate guns, see this article. (https://247wallst.com/special-report/2017/07/18/12-states-where-anyone-can-carry-a-concealed-weapon/).
