While our neighbors to the south are firmly focused on the current battle between Obama/Biden and McCain/Palin, there is another race going on in our own country. Canada will be voting on its new prime minister later this month and all the candidates have kicked their campaigns into high gear. If you’ve been watching any Canadian television these past few weeks, there’s a good chance that you’ve caught one of Stephen Harper’s ads where he appears to be sitting at home, wearing a sweater, and having a heartfelt talk with some unseen audience.
Clearly, the goal of this ad campaign is to depict the Conservative leader as a warm and compassionate person. He may have a public image of being somewhat cold and impersonal, so these ads were meant to present the current prime minister in a softer and more human light. Unfortunately, it seems that the ad campaign has completely backfired.
A poll was conducted by Nanos Research and it reveals that Canadians actually have a worse impression of Harper since he started the ad campaign. All in all, 85% of Canadians polled said that their view of Harper either remained the same or worsened since the start of the campaign. More specifically, 55% still have the same view of Harper, 12% improved their view of Harper, and 29% developed a worse impression of Harper. The remaining 5% are unsure.
That’s right. The people who have developed a worse impression of Harper outnumber those who improved their view of Harper by more than a ratio of 2-to-1. Whether this can be attributed to the “warm and fuzzy” ad campaign is unclear, but you can see how it appears that it backfired. They don’t buy it. I think one of the problems with the ad campaign is that the actual content, the actual words being spoken by Harper, are not being emphasized at all. Instead, the focus was just on presenting a “soft” image of the prime minister.
In this way, do you feel that the issues are more important or just people’s overall perception of a candidate? Do you want a cold and calculating leader or do you prefer someone more personable and “soft”?
Andrew. Estate Lawyer.
October 2, 2008 5:32 pm
This is an intriguing post. I think a lot of people vote for the candidate that makes them “feel” better. Whatever that means. I guess it varies a lot, depending upon the specific voter. Even with all the talk of issues and plans, I really do think the overall feeling voters get is what drives them the most.
Shannon
October 3, 2008 8:09 pm
My vote will go to a party that actually HAS a platform based on issues. Warm and fuzzy I get from my dog.
VentPark
October 7, 2008 9:46 pm
I think it has to be a combination of feeling good about the candidate and also believing in his or her position on the issues.
You can have a candidate that shares your beliefs on the issues but comes across as sleazy and untrustworthy. In that case you might not want to vote for him/her.
On the other hand you may feel that a particular candidate looks like a strong leader even if their take on the issues doesn’t fully agree with yours.
So you have to take personality and your feeling about the person into consideration as well as their stance on the issues.