It’s something most voters claim to hate, but negative campaigning and mudslinging seems to rule American politics – from national campaigns right down to local elections. Unfortunately, these negative political campaign strategies and dirty tricks tend to work. If they didn’t, politicians wouldn’t use them.
Lies and Misrepresentations
It seems a lot of campaigns spend more time digging up dirt on political opponents than actually addressing the issues. All too often, election campaigns break down to a (s)he said/(s)he said over trivial matters.
Scandal Mongering by Machine
Robo-calling, or automated pre-recorded calls that dial potential voters, has a mixed reputation. Some studies show that they have no effect on an election outcome, while some political consultants believe they work. Robo-calls are often used to deliver last-minute attacks – legitimate or not. Our advice is to keep aware of what your opponent is doing right up and including the day of the election.
Counting on Ignorance
Some years ago, we were involved in a grassroots campaign to prevent an inappropriate commercial project from being constructed. Our state representative did not take a side at the time. Her opponent, however, helped us greatly by providing advice and helping to bring attention to the issue.
However, right before the election, the incumbent sent our area a targeted mailing stating that she had helped our community by ‘joining the fight against inappropriate development’. This, of course, was after the issue had been long resolved without her help. Needless to say, her blatant dishonesty did not earn our vote.
Rising Above it All
How do you fight the negative? It’s tough, but here are some tips that can help.
1) Don’t overreact. Keep cool and don’t say or write anything while you are angry.
2) Take the high moral ground. Let your surrogates take down your opponent.
3) Focus your messaging to special groups. For example, if your opponent is trying to scare seniors about your proposals, send them a direct mailing addressing the situation.
4) Address EVERYTHING through your campaign website. Cover every negative article, ad and rumor through your website. Let nothing go unaddressed. Updates should be announced via email, RSS feeds, social media and any other means you use to connect to voters. This strategy will also help with the local media. If they know that your website provides rapid-response to the issues of the day, reporters will keep an eye on the site – and it may even help influence your campaign coverage.
In the end, the political campaign strategy that works best is to simply target your resources at getting more votes than your opponents. You’re not looking for gossips and political bystanders – you’re looking to turn out real voters on Election Day.
In the end, it’s the only way you can win!
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