Ballotpedia: Editorial approach to writing about key campaign messages
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This article provides an overview of Ballotpedia's approach to writing about key campaign messages.
Many candidates and campaigns expend time and money to identify fundamental reasons why voters should support them over the other candidates. Campaign messages can include a candidate's policy platform, personal and professional experiences, political ideology, and criticisms of their opponent(s).
Sometimes these key messages are developed through focus groups and polls. In other campaigns, the list of key messages is something the candidate and his or her campaign staff create organically based on personal and political experiences.
This article discusses what the common characteristics of key messages are, how they are identified, and why they matter to voters today and in the future.
Have questions about our editorial approach? Email us.
Key messages
Key messages answer the question of "why you should vote for me." Here are their common characteristics:
- Once a campaign determines its key messages, it is the job of the campaign to ensure that those key messages show up in a variety of places. This includes debates, radio ads, television ads, phone bank messages, and postcard mailings to voters in the district or state.
- Repetition is key.
- Campaigns generally rank their messages in order of importance. There may be one message emphasized over and over and over again, with other messages as secondary notes.
- Certain messages only go to specific constituencies. For example, if the candidate favors or opposes stricter gun regulation, that message might only go out on postcard mailings to special interest constituencies within the district that are known to particularly care about that message.
In addition to saying “why you should vote for me," campaigns also often articulate reasons as to “why you shouldn’t vote for the other candidates." These key messages may also be focus-grouped and poll-tested. Sometimes surrogates are tasked with communicating opposition messages.
Identifying key messages
It is possible to identify a campaign’s key messages (“why you should vote for me"), because these key themes manifest repeatedly in the campaign’s and candidate’s public communications.
In most structured campaigns, there is likely a memo where the campaign has internally identified key messages. Properly summarizing why a candidate thinks "you should vote for me" would reflect what was in that memo.
Key messages are historically important
An article that doesn’t include the information about what Candidate A was saying to his or her electorate to earn their support is missing a key piece of historical information.
One way to think about that is to imagine someone in 100 years reading an article about, say, the gubernatorial election in Florida in 2018. If the article does not include a section that explains to that reader 100 years in the future what each candidate presented to the electorate about why they ought to “vote for me, not the other person," then that hypothetical reader won’t really be able to understand the meaning of the election.
Key messages are deeply important to today's reader
In our articles about local and statewide ballot measures, we often include sections that give the arguments offered by the proponents and opponents as to why the electorate should vote for or against the ballot measure.
Candidate campaigns are, in this sense, no different from ballot measure campaigns. Both candidates are giving explicit reasons about “why you should vote for me and against the other person." Identifying those key messages in candidate campaigns is extremely helpful, just as it is helpful in ballot measure campaigns.
Candidates we cover
Ballotpedia's Candidate Connections survey includes a question asking candidates for their key campaign messages. This response is included in the candidate's published survey on Ballotpedia.
Ballotpedia staff also work to identify key messages in races we expect to be competitive or otherwise interesting. To choose races, factors we consider include the margin of victory in recent elections, whether a race is for an open seat, the length of time an incumbent may have spent in office, outside race ratings, and other special circumstances. We present key messages for noteworthy candidates running in these races as part of a candidate profile.
In the general elections we select for expanded coverage, Ballotpedia covers key messages for all major party candidates. We prioritize coverage of key campaign messages for minor-party, independent, and write-in candidates when there are three or fewer total candidates running.
In primaries, Ballotpedia staff prioritizes coverage of candidates that lead in polling, fundraising, or noteworthy endorsements or who have been identified by local media sources as being noteworthy.
Ballotpedia's policy is to publish key messages provided by the candidate in their survey response over those compiled by Ballotpedia staff. If a candidate submits a Candidate Connections survey after Ballotpedia staff have compiled their research on that candidate's key messages, our policy is to take down the staff-researched messages in favor of the candidate's own messages. Candidate profiles containing key messages submitted by the candidate are indicated by a disclaimer directly above the profile.
In some races, Ballotpedia staffers may select quotes from the candidate or campaign that capture the campaigns' key messages rather than identifying the key messages themselves. This determination is made on an election-by-election basis; if one candidate in a race receives a quote in lieu of full key messages coverage, every candidate with staff-researched key messages should also receive a quote instead of full coverage.
To suggest a candidate for key messages coverage, email us. For more, see Ballotpedia's editorial independence policy.
See also
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