The science of campaign strategy

As the election gears up, strategy teams are beginning the push to get voters to the polls. Researchers are attempting to find the best way to motivate people -through science and cognitive psychology - and are discovering that traditional methods may be outdated.

So what really works to get people to the polls, and why are campaigns stuck on the old methods?

More from NPR:

All kinds of people have tried to divine the thoughts and feelings of the American voter. But until recently, the only way researchers and pols could figure to study a voter was to ask the voter questions. You either put them in a focus group or you polled them on the phone.

But according to Jennifer Green, another researcher who studies voters through experimentation, that's no way to study a voter. You have to use controlled experiments, she argues, because voters themselves often don't understand what moves them. Most of us, she says, don't.

"If I showed you a quacking duck and I said, 'Hey, do you think this would make you more likely to buy this insurance?' You would say, 'No!' You're going to say, 'I want to know how much it costs! What it will cover! All those details so I can make an informed decision.' We want to portray ourselves as people using information to make informed decisions."

Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California, will join The Daily Circuit to discuss the research behind campaign strategy. Shane D'Aprile, editor of Campaigns and Elections magazine, will also join the discussion.

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