Political Marketing Research in the 2000 U.S. Election

Abstract

It is not news that polls and other forms of marketing research are regularly employed to craft political strategy. What is new is that the 2000 U.S. election represented a turning point where political marketing research seems to take center stage. The print and broadcast media employed polls and other forms of research at levels far beyond anything ever seen before. At times, it appeared as if almost as much attention was being given to polls as was being given to the political candidates and the issues. This was clearly a new and important posturing of the role of political marketing research. With this as a backdrop, the current article compares polls and other forms of political research-focusing on what went wrong and what was right in terms of the use of polls, focus groups and Internet research during the 2000 U.S. election. The article ends with the presentation of some exploratory research that examines insights about respondents' opinions regarding the impact of political polls.     

Focus Group Follies?

Abstract

Media coverage of the contemporary British Labour party routinely suggests party leaders, notably Tony Blair, have been overly reliant on using focus group as a means of obtaining voter feedback. The paper explores this popular understanding by considering how and when qualitative forms of opinion research began to play a significant role in developing campaign strategy. Following their incorporation into party planning during the mid-1980s, focus groups provided an increasingly influential (and at the time more discreet) source of data and support for the leadership's Policy Review later that decade. Following the 1992 election defeat selective findings from the party's qualitative research programme became integral to the public relations' initiatives of Labour's self-styled “modernisers,” particularly in their largely successful attempt to delegitimise and then marginalise the role of the party's once formidable affiliated union supporters in internal affairs. Crucially this contributed to a climate that enabled the key moderniser Tony Blair to emerge and win the leadership.     

Political Marketing and Professionalized Campaigning

Abstract

During the last decade a number of scholars have argued that political campaigning has become professionalized, and that political marketing has become the new dominant campaign paradigm. However, the conceptual relationship between political marketing and the professionalization of political campaigning is unclear. Furthermore, the distinction between political marketing, market orientation, and marketing techniques is often blurred. At the same time, most of the literature is dominated by either an American or British perspective. This makes it unclear as to whether these concepts should be viewed as general concepts, or as concepts relevant primarily for countries that share some specific set of political institutions.

In this backdrop, the purpose of this article is to analyze (1) the conceptual relationship between political marketing, market orientation, marketing techniques, and professionalization of political campaigning, and (2) whether contemporary concepts of political marketing and the professionalization of political campaigning are equally applicable to all modern democracies regardless of, for example, political system and other country-specific factors. It also outlines a theory of strategic party goals for multiple arenas.     

Marketing the Political Message

Abstract

The potential for Americanisation of UK political campaigning is discussed with a particular focus on message development and dissemination. The paper recognises that there is difference between policy and message development, arguing that it is through the latter that British parties have most to learn from their transatlantic counterparts. Contextual differences in operation mitigate wholesale migration of American know-how, restricting technology transfer to fund-raising techniques and the incorporation of opposition and market research techniques into the development and dissemination of the message. Parties should focus their research on how to make their messages more easily understood and where to disseminate them, but they should use a process that maintains the integrity of their content (i.e., the underlying policy).     

异地培训：创新欠发达地区干部教育的有效方式

异地培训是欠发达地区干部教育的有效方式,是提高干部综合素质和能力的重要途径。要树立发展的培训理念,明确培训目标;确定鲜明的培训主题,选准培训地点;选择实用的培训内容,科学设计方案;采取灵活的培训方式,精心组织活动;形成长效的培训机制,注重总结经验,努力提升异地培训效果。     

河北省农村社区矫正工作的发展策略

社区环境是开展社区矫正工作的基础。与城市社区相比,我国农村社区在经济发展水平、基础设施建设、人力资源储备等方面处于劣势,探索适合农村文化和现实的矫正制度是矫正工作者应当关注的重要问题之一。社区矫正工作实施以来,河北省在完善法律制度、建立工作机构和推进社区信息化建设等方面有所创新,但农村社区仍存在村民参与少、有关部门配合不顺畅,矫正措施层次低、工作队伍专业化不强等问题。社区矫正机构应当在现行法律框架内,结合农村实际,进一步转变观念、规范职能、提高矫正措施水平以及重视工作队伍建设,以推动农村社区矫正工作健康发展。     

新形势下青少年校外活动场所发展策略研究——以浙江省为例

伴随着教育改革的不断深入,国家基本公共服务规则的出台,青少年校外活动场所的发展迎来了新的发展机遇。文章立足于浙江省的实际情况,分析以青少年宫为代表的浙江省青少年校外活动场所发展现状,探讨新形势下浙江省青少年校外活动场所的发展策略。     

The Common Security and Defence Policy as an act of American hegemony

Abstract

The financial crisis endangers the security of NATO's members and partners. As such, NATO has a formal obligation to mobilize its resources to aid members in overcoming current economic challenges. NATO can play a valuable role on three levels. First, NATO can aid members in rationalizing their military procurement and manpower systems, thus reducing the fiscal burden of maintaining adequate defenses. Second, NATO can press the ECB and the EU to modify arrangements governing the Euro so as to minimize the risk that EMU will collapse. Finally, NATO has a “soft power” role in vigorously defending the liberal economic order and democratic political institutions of the Western Alliance from the ideological attacks that inevitably follow financial crises.     

The Effects of Continuous Application of the TASER X26 Waveform on Sus scrofa,

This study investigated and evaluated the safety margins of the continuous long duration (up to 30 min) effect of the TASER X26 waveform, using a Sus scrofa model. Long duration continuous stimulus has not been evaluated on humans or human surrogates prior to this study. Swine were used as models due to similarities with humans in their skin and cardiovascular systems. Very long duration was used to determine both exposure dose and possible adverse physiological effects of dose. The trial began with an application of 10 min, and subsequent animals received increasing exposure time up to a survived maximum duration of 30 min. At the onset of this work, it was hypothesized that there would be a time limit after which most animals would not survive consistent with increased dose response. However, this hypothesis was not supported by the experimental results. All animals (10 of 10) survived up to 3 min. Seven of the 10 animals survived up to a 10‐min exposure and 3 of 5 animals with a 30‐min target exposure survived the full exposure. Surviving animals were recovered and observed for 24 h, with no postrecovery deaths. This suggests that swine (based on physiology) will not experience a fatal event when exposed to the TASER X26 for a continuous 3 min. Conclusions regarding longer duration (10–30 min) are not as certain due to the small sample sizes at these time intervals.     

Analysis and Discrimination of Single‐Layer White Architectural Paint Samples,

Comparative analyses of 50 single‐layer white architectural paints were conducted to determine the discrimination power using standard techniques and to provide a basis for assessing significance when paints with limited features are not discriminated. Utilizing Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), 68 undifferentiated pairs resulted, yielding a discrimination of 94.45%. Adding stereomicroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and backscatter electron (BSE) imaging, and pyrolysis‐gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py‐GC/MS), the overall discrimination was 99.35%. The study included blind verification replicates, which resulted in the only pairs without indications of physical or chemical differences. The remaining groups of undifferentiated samples contained subtle differences by at least one technique, but were considered undifferentiated for the discrimination power evaluations. This study demonstrates a high degree of discrimination of single‐layer white architectural paints using methods of analysis often encountered in forensic science laboratories.