06.15.2011
When Elettore signs on to develop and manage web communications for a liberal political candidate, our more conservative clients have been known to express concern.
When a prospective Democratic Party candidate client meets with us, they're inevitably guarded (and curious) about our successful track record with Republican clients.
We've even had one of the nation's top political consultants tell us, "At some point, you're going to have choose sides."
We just smile.
You see, we believe that reaching and maintaining a position of elected leadership in America is no longer about just being a "D" or an "R."
It turns out that a report from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press has our back on this.
Released in May, "Beyond Red vs. Blue: Political Typology" is the Center's deep and detailed dive into personal political beliefs and trends.
At a time when our country's partisan and economic ideologies have so polarized us, the Center finds that "a growing number of Americans are choosing not to identify with either political party, and the center of the political spectrum is increasingly diverse."
We just smile.
"Rather than being moderate," the study finds, "many of these independents hold extremely strong ideological positions on issues such as the role of government, immigration, the environment and social issues. But they combine these views in ways that defy liberal or conservative orthodoxy."
The study outlines nine distinct political groups in American politics today: Staunch Conservatives, Main Street Republicans, Libertarians, Disaffected, Post-Moderns, New Coalition Democrats, Hard-Pressed Democrats, Solid Liberals, and ‒ we might add, the most confounding of them all ‒ Bystanders.
To help us better visualize the differences, John Osborn of the online news site "The Reporta," takes the Pew content a step further and visually illustrates each of these nine groups.
Granted, it's easier to pigeonhole voters into one of two political camps. You don't have to work as hard as a political campaign to communicate what you stand for and what you will do. It's easier to test and create catch-all messages that target intellectually lazy voters, especially when they self-identify as Democrats or Republicans and have a history of "straight party" voting. The polls tell us this, so let's do that.
Well, maybe, just maybe our country would be better served by having thinking citizens pull the lever. And, maybe, our political organizations and campaigns could stand a little more thought, as well.
Organizations like No Labels and The Coffee Party believe so. The Pew Research Center reports so. Extensively. Political observer John C. Osborn draws us pictures to help us break free from lock-step thinking.
As for Elettore, we agree. We don't always convince our political clients that there are more than two buckets of voters out there. But when we do, they always win.
And we just smile.
Randall White, President
Elettore
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