John

Here is something I wrote in 2000 or 2004; I’m not quite sure which version of my book it belongs to:

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A second big change in the last 50 years has been the political parties’ ability to market themselves better. When we inspect the machinations inside any moderately successful political party, we see great investment into creating a better image. In the future, we should expect better TV commercials, better staged media events, and better 15-second sound clips to influence opinion. The parties will become better at recognizing those individuals who are more electable from an image perspective.

We should expect parties to create better election strategies. They will be better at swaying the 10 to 30% of swing voters on election day, for it is often these fickle swing voters who decide, on one particular day, the government for the next few years.* The parties will become better at identifying various voter segments, polling them, interpreting these polls, and designing their marketing messages for them. They will become better at persuading certain voter segments without offending other voter segments. They will improve their techniques to identify and keep their “soft support” intact while trying to convince the “soft support” of their opponents to change their minds or stay away from the polls. They will learn advertising tricks to defend their soft supporters and get them to the polls.

*Before I became an active worker in a political party, I was one of these fickle voters. In at least two elections, I went to the polls to vote as part of my civic duty, but I had no idea which individual or political party I was going to vote for — despite being a reasonably informed citizen. What made me cast my vote one way and not the other at that time is still a mystery to me.

The parties will be better at finding the talented campaign managers who have a great flair for creating images, interpreting polls, designing marketing messages and making the right decisions at the right time in the midst of an election battle. These individuals could go to the highest bidder.

Some experts may argue that improving the marketing skills of political parties allows them to better serve the citizens. But the motivation is all wrong. Better marketing skills mostly serve to win elections, not necessarily provide better governance. When I align better marketing skills with the 12 limitations, I see no transcending any of the 12 limitations. If anything, better political marketing will make some of them worse.

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I watched your video. Unfortunately, I do not see a solution that involves legislation or voter education. To me, we need to change our electoral system such that big data has little effect on voting.