Libs ads best | What The People Want

Friday, 06 September 2013 07:31 | Written by Graham Young

With ads it is always a question of playing the odds. Some people like them, other people hate them, but on balance you may move a small percentage of voters. With elections won by movements of a couple of per cent, this is enough. In this contest, it appears that the coalition is ahead.

We tested five ads all up, including one from the Greens. In all cases the Liberal Party ad did the best with the Labor and Greens ads having limited appeal outside their own base.

This is the first election I can remember where the positive ads have tested the best, and the winner on this score is the Liberals positive ad, with 38% more likely to vote Liberal compared to 24% less likely, a net of 14% towards the opposition. For the ALP positive ad the relevant figures were 30% and 37% giving a net move away from Labor of 7%.

Here, without further comment, are the results.

ALP attack ad

ALP Attack Ad

ALP positive ad

ALP Positive Ad

LP attack ad

LP Attack Ad

LP positive ad

LP Positive Ad

Greens ad

Grn Ad

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Comments

0 #1 Mr — Chris Bartlett 2013-09-08 09:55

Who cares. If you are persuaded to vote by manipulative, polarised and misleading ads for either party, as opposed to douing your own research and thinking through the issues, not the arguments, the basis for ads, then yiou are a MORON.

0 #2 Morons vote — Jeff Popova-Clark 2013-09-08 17:22

It doesn't matter if they are morons. It matters if they vote.

0 #3 We are all morons when it comes to emotion. — greybeard 2013-09-09 09:28

The problem is that we are all affected by appeals to emotion, both positive and negative. The reaction may be subconscious. Those who are politically engaged will probably have already made up their minds, frequently on the basis of emotions such as loyalty to "their" team, or sometimes on a perception of self-interest that frequently does not accord with reality. But many people are genuinely not interested in politics and vote they way they "feel". Experts tell us repeatedly that negative ads do work. Fear is stronger than hope.

0 #4 Facts don't matter — Kipling 2013-09-12 08:19

Seems pretty obvious from this OP that the facts don't actually matter to Australians. How peculiar. Of course, that has been somewhat evident for about the last three (or more)decades of Australian politics, a detached, disinterested and easily led voting public - probably not great for democracy in the long run...

+1 #5 RE: Libs ads best — Graham Young 2013-09-19 12:21

I'm surprised that anyone thinks elections are determined by facts. We vote with our hearts, perhaps influenced by our heads. How can you factually weigh-up who is the best? You in the end elect politicians because you trust them to do the things you agree with, and you know if they don't you can vote them out. Although whether any other person or group will meet your requirements any more closely is another question.

+1 #6 It's not even as rational as that — Jeff Popov-Clark 2013-09-19 20:25

Voteers are one of the following: inherited voter (vote for the party your parents voted for), rusted on voter (vote for who you've always voted), obedient voter (vote for who your spouse/friend/k ids told you too), emotional voter (vote for who you feel like for whatever visceral reason and then post justify with a rational sounding reason), rational voter (vote for the candidate/party with the policy portfolio best matching what you think is best for the country or yourself or both). The last one is so rare they might as well not exist. Even the emotionals are a vast minority, but at least they are influential and swingable. Note that almost no-one actually votes based on actual policy. In fact, research suggests that less detailed policy creates more dedicated party supporters.

0 #7 Confirmation that facts don't matter — Kipling 2013-09-22 10:26

To Mr Young, thanks for your verification that facts apparently do not matter. As to your point about "factually weighing up who is the best" I would suggest that is not necessarily that easy. However, weighing up the garbage fed to us by politicians with deliberate support from media is not all that difficult. It just requires the smallest bit of critical thinking. Clearly that small bit of critical thinking is just a bit too beyond many voters. I would further suggest that this is a systemic issue and not a case of "dumb voters". The system has proactively developed the dumbing down of elections. Ironically Mr Young, both teams make claim to "Facts" that their faithful swear are true, on say so only. In short, you can verify facts with significant research. They seem to be the facts that do not matter to the public. Fact, the carbon tax is not the first tax inflicted on Australia that we were promised would not happen.

0 #8 MR — Chris 2013-09-30 17:26

Graham ... voting decision is very much based on fact for some of us.
I know there is not much fact pushed by mainstream media & politicians. That is why we have to sort through the rubbish & see who fits the bill.
If politicians like Abbott & the Libs just blatantly lie to us all ... then I vote them down lower & lower on my ranking.
We are split by the way we vote .... some of us are more greed focused & selfishly motivated, while others of us are voting ethically & for the future.
Social consciousness is very important ... shame more voters don't have it.

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