Believing The Hype? Voter Analysis

Is It Any Good?

As soon as the ballots have been counted, we move on and quickly begin to count our mistakes. Every missed vote, every lost seat in Government, all this equals a voter that you didn’t connect with. A door you failed to knock on or a button you never handed out. It’s funny to think that’s it’s only in the last few years that we have begun to analyze voter behavior.

Voting isn't a new phenomenon but it is a relatively new practice to dissect and essentially, hold a post mortem on election day matters. Believing that everyone has an opportunity to win is what drives people into politics, so when you don’t finish up victorious, it’s important to understand why.

2016 was the year of the surprise winner, be it the Brexit vote in the UK, The Freedom Party’s rise to prominence in Austria or the unexpected rise of Trump in the US, we, the people, were left baffled. Many didn’t expect these results and ultimately we need to be eased into things, it’s human nature.

Let's Not Over-Invest

In the US, the media scoffed at the ‘preposterous’ idea of a Trump President. They plowed this into the subconscious of any individual who stopped to listen. People believed the headlines and didn’t stop to consider that a Trump victory was never out of the question. Polling also didn't pick up on a significant percentage of respondents that seemed to be reluctant to admit to voting for Trump.

Yikes, can we really trust polls at all?

Well, if we are honest, polling never really claimed to be able to understand the psyche of large groups of people, rather it was designed to take a snapshot in time on a single point of information. It was the media that interpreted polling results under the guise of fact. The truth is people can and will change their minds come election day.

We Need To Regain Perspective

We are experiencing a culture divide in today’s society. More and more people are outspoken about the things that matter to them and of course, this can only be viewed as a positive step. Issues like feminism, immigration, globalization and social liberalism are now trending topics on social media and they sometimes increase the gulf between who votes for Candidate A and Candidate B.

Finding common ground with the voter is getting increasingly difficult unless you are capable of evoking anger on a certain issue. The days of positive participation overshadowing negative press are slipping away from those in the political space with resentment and dissatisfaction flooding our electorate.

Voter analysis over the years has often left us with more questions than answers.

• People vote because they know they can help make a change.
• People vote because it empowers them.
• People vote because they like a candidate.
• People vote because they know a candidate.
• People vote because they don’t like the other candidate.

Voter analysis should be used as a tool to reach the public more effectively and not to bend our ideology to what we think will garner us more votes.

We know the reasons for voting and not voting. We know that understanding voters better will only increase our chances of aligning all our thoughts to mutually benefit both parties, but we need to be careful. As the saying goes, “if you stand for nothing, what’ll you fall for?”

Voter analysis is a powerful weapon when wielded correctly. Use it to connect with the people you missed last time, open up the channels of communication. Ensure that you don't lessen your campaign because of one poll, get out and canvass and talk to people yourself.

If you would like help getting your campaign organized, why not get in touch below.