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I must have received 20 or more texts just today from democratic/liberal candidates asking for cash to fund their campaigns. Actually I shouldn’t complain because it’s my fault. Most of these messages do have an opt-out option and yes, I have hit Stop2end for some of the causes and candidates with whom I’m less familiar or less committed to. I’m not sure why I don’t solve the problem that way for all these messages, but I guess I’ m curious to know what contests are out there and which are heated, even if I don’t have much of a commitment to find out that much more about them or in contributing to their causes.
Let’s face it, I’d love to say that I’m familiar with and committed to the outcome of the contest in the 21st congressional district in North Dakota (don’t bother googling it—I just made it up), but I’ll admit it, I’m barely familiar with the difference between North Dakota and South Dakota. All I can tell you with any certainty is that the latter is likely closer to the equator than the former, oh, and that I’m hoping that good causes and good people in that part of the country can succeed without my active support.
It is fascinating, however, to see the variety of the pitches I receive. Some tell me that the good Candidate XX has taken a lead, and only my support can assure that things stay that way. Others tell me that the margin is slim, and my bucks can help assure a victory for the “good guy” (which I use generically to denote a male or female, although I fear that some—or many–readers may tell me that this is bad practice). Others point out “we” are losing, but that my contribution can turn an L into a W.
Some shamelessly ask me for as much as I can give. Some ask for just $5, or a similar small amount, hoping that if they can overcome the inertia of my non-contribution habit they can come back for more once they have generated enough momentum to overcome my cheapness and/or apathy. Some demand, and some beg. But the most common theme I can detect is that “they’re outspending us. If only we had more money, we could produce and fund more ads, and more ads is equivalent to more votes.”
Which brings me to the most fundamental question: Does money spent for political ads—on local TV, on cable channels, on social media—actually make a difference?
Having been trained as a social psychologist in the late 1960’s, all of this brings me back to the research of a highly respected teacher and researcher, Robert Zajonc (whose last name rhymes with “science”). Zajonc, whose corner office happened to be a few yards from my shared grad student cubicle, coined the “mere exposure effect,” demonstrating that greater exposure to a name or a person or a cause—all other things equal—is associated with greater positivity. Studied a great deal in the past 50+ years, the basic finding has survived the test of time, although research specific to advertising and politics offers us several caveats, in particular that the effect is relatively short-lived and weak.
So I’m left wondering whether any of this makes a difference, the appeals for cash or the ads themselves.
Whoops, I just got another one on my phone. This one’s from… let’s see, let’s see… this one is from Barack and Michelle Obama. How nice of the former President and his highly respected spouse to contact me directly. They tell me that our democracy is at risk… okay, okay… and that we must flip Congress… yes, for sure… and that we must stop Trump for good… agreed. And if I toss $20 their way, someone somewhere will match it 900%.
Come to think of it, this reasoning coming from Barack & Michelle starts to make sense to me. If the Obama’s themselves actually made the effort to reach out to me personally, and if they are convinced that my small contribution can have a really significant impact, who am I to disagree??
Excuse me. I’ve got to go now. I’ve got to this blog out and reach into my wallet for my credit card. Just twenty bucks and I can change the course of civilization. Sounds like a good deal to me.
Zajonc’s observation, if I’ve understood, seems to be at least somewhat accurate: lots of ads of “viral” kinds do sway voters, particularly “low information” people. The requests for $3 are pretty absurd although they are not about the money: they want to be able to say that we received X number of small donations, local ones in particular. I had 93 of these sorts of request in my inbox by 7 this morning and a rough count is that I’ve had well over a hundred since, and by evening….If you can take the time–AT ThIS TIME–go through and contribute what… Read more »