Platform Phrasing with Frank Luntz as your guide.

by Tim Crowley

Posted April 15, 2007

Platform Phrasing with Frank Luntz as your guide.

It's not what we say, It's what people hear. Humans have very selective hearing and selective memory.

Pollster Frank Luntz has identified several phrases for the 21st Century in his new book "Words That Work". Here are the ones that I could write down, along with a few of my own ideas. We can try to plug these into the platform and position papers, but we still need to massage the final result and develop a comprehensive set of messages.

Which phrases trigger which images? Which emotions?

Most of these can be substituted with little rewriting but some of them require you to take a slightly different angle on the issue in question.

Offshore drilling becomes deep sea energy exploration. Drilling for oil becomes exploring for energy.

Wiretapping or Eavesdropping should be Electronic Intercepts. (unless you are against it)

Minor Political Party should be Challenger Party. Philosophy becomes Ideas School vouchers become Opportunity Scholarships. Major Parties (Ds and Rs) become the old corrupt parties.

Estate Tax (rich people image) becomes Death Tax (what event triggers this tax?)

Libertarian Party could be Liberty Party (as long as the hard right hasn't taken it yet)

Global Warming becomes Climate Change Detente (highbrow French Term) becomes 'relaxed relations"

The French become "Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys" Just Kidding.

Closet Statist becomes Inclusive Libertarian.

Privatization of Social Security becomes Personalization of Social Security. (Privatization scares older people when used with social security)

"I'm Sorry' (more personal) is better than "I apologize" (more formal)

Call John Edwards a "Personal Injury Lawyer" (an unflattering term evoking ambulance chaser imagery without actually saying it.) rather than a 'Trial Lawyer" (which sounds somewhat statesmanlike like Perry Mason)

Timber Industry Bill becomes Healthy Forests Initiative.

Luntz advises against using economic arguments against environmental regulations because environmental arguments will always win out with average Americans who are concerned about their health.

Stress our commitment to clean air and water, and clear skies and clean lakes.

Other winning phrases or words:

Lifestyle
Hassle-free
Accountability
Can-Do Spirit
Results
Financial Security
Prosperity
Innovation.
Competence, results, reform, success

Clear skies and clean lakes
Perhaps Compassionate Libertarianism?? (perhaps not)
The Ownership Society

free markets
individual responsibility
Preservation of America's National Security.

A good word is "imagine". It gets to focus on their own personal vision of what is good, so that they fill in the blanks with their own vision that they like. Get the Purists to imagine a more successful Libertarian Party to start a dialogue with them.

Pragmatists could get the Purists to acknowledge that things have not been great. Pragmatists could say that the party has been unsuccessful in the past, but by God, we get it now!

Can-Do Spirit instead of long boilerplate phrase about personal freedom and responsibility? In a lot of cases. Can-Do Spirit has no connotations about pot smokers, militiamen and so on.

Older people and white people respond favorably to patriotic messages, while younger voters and minorities are turned off by them. But we should have some of them in the platform in a toned down form.

The words and phrases that worked in 2006 may not work ten years from now. Each phrase has a shelf life. But these phrases have been isolated and tested by using "dial" technology and focus groups by GOP pollster Frank Luntz.

They are a blend of Madison Avenue and Psychoanalysis.
See www.luntz.com for more info.

Good communicators tell stories. The best communicators are Oprah today, Bill Cosby 10 years ago, James Garner 20 years ago. Clinton and Reagan are both good communicators who tell stories and have an amiable demeanor.

Domestic Oil Production becomes American Oil Production. Tort Reform becomes Lawyer Abuse Reform Corporate Transparency becomes Corporate Accountability or Corporate Responsibility (ditto for Govt in place of Corporate)

School Choice becomes Parental Choice or Equal Opportunity in Education.

Health Care Choice becomes The Right to Choose Healthcare, Doctors, etc.

Deny becomes "not give"

Slot Machines or Gambling become Gaming.
Liquor becomes Spirits

Government becomes Washington

Privitiazation becomes Personalization. Privatize becomes Personalize. Tax Reform becomes Tax Simplification Tax Cuts become Tax Relief.

We are selling Benefits, not features in our platform planks.

Private Health Care becomes Free Market Health Care.

Global Economy, Globalization and Capitalism all become the Free Market Economy.

Foreign Trade becomes International Trade. Undoccumented Workers/Aliens become Illegal Immigrants/Border Security.

Honest, credible or truthful data become Accurate Data. Interpretation becomes Analysis Responsibility and Professionalism become Accountability

Capital Markets become Investors or The Public Interest. Innovative Approaches become Principles and Rules. Attested to becomes Certified. Experienced becomes Independent

Breadth of services becomes Back to Basics.
Codes of Conduct become Internal controls and accountability procedures.

Comprehensive becomes Easy To Understand. Objective becomes Accurate.

Being Rewarded becomes Being Valued. Peace of Mind becomes Security Compassion becomes Fairness. Finding Common Ground becomes Negotiating in Good Faith.

Balance becomes Fairness or Common Sense. Listening to the other side becomes Keeping Promisees or Respecting the other Side. Purists are Biased becomes You have a right to hear all sides.

Instead of talking about Outsourcing, talk about its root causes: Taxation, Regulation, Litigation, Innovation, Education, Legislation.

Always differentiate legal from illegal immigration.

Liberal Values become Hollywood values.
Fairness becomes Opportunity (opportunity tests better)
Wall Street becomes Main Street
Limited Governmnet becomes Getting Value from Government
(Maybe Libertarians will keep 'limited govt' but the other one tests better)

Other terms that test well in Luntz's dial tests. Patient-centered
Investment
Casual Elegance (used for consumer products)
Independent
Prosperity
Spirituality (use this in a religious platform plank?)
Financial Security
A Balanced Approach
Family, Freedom, Opportunity, Responsibility, Community, Sacrifice.
Accountability, Imagine, Lifestyle, convenience, compassionate,
Hassle-free.

Try to wedge some of these "RE" words into the platform and into general rhetoric. Renew
Revitalize
Rejuvenate
Restore
Rekindle
Reinvent

See how Luntz uses the word "YOUR"

The other party's policies will lead to......... Overcrowding of YOUR schools Emergency Room Chaos in YOUR hospitals. Increase in YOUR taxes Crime in YOUR communities.

Why was The Contract With America called a 'Contract'? Promises are made to be broken Pledges go unfulfilled Platforms are too political (We will probably keep 'platform' however) Oaths have legal connotations Covenants have Religious Connotations.

Why wasn't it called THE REPUBLICAN Contract With America? Because that made it too partisan and made it too easy for the Democrats to slander it. But they did call it the Contract ON America, however.

From the Contract With America. Note the "winning words". Fiscal Responsibility Act
Take Back Our Streets Act
Personal Responsibility Act
Family Reinforcement Act
American Dream Restoration Act
National Security Act
Senior Citizens' Fairness Act
Job Creation and Wage Enhancement Act
Common Sense Legal Reforms Act
Citizen Legislature Act

What if we offered America a platform that clearly highlighted not just our principles but a plan to get it done? (straight out of Luntz's book, 'Winning Words.' Luntz initially wanted to name the book "Killer Words" but that title tested dead last. His publisher knew best and Luntz listened to him.

Will our new platform resonate? Make sure that each platform plank passes the Frank Luntz test and contains the powerful words that resonate with voters. The platform must speak from the heart and from the intellect. We must tone down the us versus them rhetoric (which I do a lot).

Many Libertarians are bloggers, and the writing style of blogs is confrontational. The LRC must take the high ground in the end. These articles are like the proverbial sausage factory, but the final product that the world and the 08 convention will see must unify Purists and Pragmatists alike. Do Purists and Pragmatists have similar aspirations? Plus it must resonate with voters.

Does the LRC care about the voters? Does it sympathize with the voters? What about the people who are 'left behind'? Does the platform resonate with that group? We must get two groups of people to buy into the new platform; the platform committee and delegates, and the American People.

We must understand the hearts and minds of the major Libertarian stakeholders and find the rationale behind them, then appeal to those rationales. Maybe we should ask the Purists to 'imagine" a better future for the LP? What would it look like? Is it possible or are we headed east looking for a sunset? Pragmatist is a good term, but maybe we are also "Inclusive Libertarians"

We must think outside of the Libertarian Box and reframe and remessage the essential platform ideals. We might have the right ideology but the wrong message. Libertarians too often sound like bloggers who appeal to a narrow group of readers with an 'us versus them' style.

Sometimes we need subtlety in the final product that the world sees. Use better phrasing, more stories, etc but if you do it wrong you destroy credibility. But maybe the 1971-2005 platform destroyed its credibility with the average voter by ignoring these guidelines?

American voters don't read much and aren't as educated as L activists are. They mistrust ideologies.

We are the party of principle, but maybe we are actually the party of ideology? Principles work in communication, but ideology does not. In the Libertarian world, principle, ideology and philosophy all mean "Ideology". Ideologues don't want to communicate or be liked by everybody. These are all emotional factors and the Libertarian Party favors ideology. But there is nothing wrong with emotions.

The LRC must offer a PLAN.

The LRC platform planks have their emotional ups and downs. How to make it all ups? We must communicate genuine principles in a straightforward manner. Principles are fine and help tell a story, but Philosophies and Ideologies do not. We must be less like bloggers who write for narrow demographics and more like writers for the masses.

What levers can a credible Libertarian candidate pull to get a vote?

By the time you are sick of your message, the public is just beginning to get it. Humans have very selective hearing and memory.

This is all the Knowledge I could tap from "Winning Words" by GOP pollster and wordsmith Dr. Frank Luntz without actually buying the book. We may not want to sound 100% like Frank Luntz, but we might not want to sound 100% like Ayn Rand either. The choice is yours.

2 Comments

Printer Friendly Version
Top of Page