Social-Issue Focused Messaging Works
Winter 2020
As we found in our study on Election Day, young Americans were motivated to a) go to the polls and b) support a specific candidate based on their interest in a social issue. They responded to messaging － by movements, by candidates, by nonprofits and by get-out-the-vote campaigns － that focused on the need for change to an issue and how their actions could achieve it.
Our research reflects a positive response among young Americans to messages of unity. The racial equity movement’s message of, “[Racism] ends with justice, compassion and empathy that manifests in our lives and on our streets” (Michelle Obama, Harper’s Bazaar) matched well with the CDC’s calls for working together to stem the tide of infections: “Cloth face coverings are a critical tool in the fight against COVID-19 that could reduce the spread of the disease.” (Press release, CDC) Joe Biden, then, built on and coalesced these and other messages into a clarion call for an undivided nation to work together: “Character's on the ballot, the character of the country. And this is our opportunity to leave the dark, angry politics of the past four years behind us.” (Political ad, NPR) We saw the influences of this messaging result in tangible actions by young Americans in every one of our studies.
