Checked out?
A good friend of mine, who readily describes himself as "not political," came to me for advice the other day. A woman he’s interested in invited him to a State of the Union watching party she was hosting, and he didn’t want to put his foot in his mouth while there. I did my best – and wondered if my friend was the "checked out" person Gov. Patrick talked about "checking back in." Probably so.
So my friend is a bright, college-educated professional, but he doesn’t follow politics. How do you reach people like him? At least at this time of year, he’s probably in the vast majority, though I realize that may come as a shock to a reader (or writer) of a political blog in February. How do you bring up political – no, civics – issues three months after an election and have them resonate through until the next election cycle?
Here’s the more brutal question: are people like my friend actually going to vote in the next election cycle? As Jay Severin likes to remind people all the time, any really useful political poll weeds out people that don’t vote. So the typical politician response is that you don’t expend much effort trying to reach people like my friend, because chances are your efforts won’t translate to votes. That’s probably not indefensible in the cash- and time-strapped context of a political campaign, but now seems like a good time.
The final question is what do you reach your apolitical friends with? There’s no shortage of advice out there for the MA Republican party. Some say just give up, you’re dead and nobody agrees with your point of view. Others say focus on fiscal issues, not social issues, market to the old Yankee Republicans that elected Bill Weld. Still others urge Republicans not to abandon the social issues or you risk losing a voting block. Then there’s the likes of the Boston Globe, which surely has the best interests of Republicans at heart (???), urging Republicans to do what they can to work with the Democrats.
As for me, I’ll just continue to be who I am and take advantage of opportunities that present themselves to talk to my apolitical friends about things that get me bent out of shape. If I’m any good at convincing, I’ll make sure I call all my friends next November.
A good friend of mine, who readily describes himself as "not political," came to me for advice the other day. A woman he’s interested in invited him to a State of the Union watching party she was hosting, and he didn’t want to put his foot in his mouth while there. I did my best – and wondered if my friend was the "checked out" person Gov. Patrick talked about "checking back in." Probably so.
So my friend is a bright, college-educated professional, but he doesn’t follow politics. How do you reach people like him? At least at this time of year, he’s probably in the vast majority, though I realize that may come as a shock to a reader (or writer) of a political blog in February. How do you bring up political – no, civics – issues three months after an election and have them resonate through until the next election cycle?
Here’s the more brutal question: are people like my friend actually going to vote in the next election cycle? As Jay Severin likes to remind people all the time, any really useful political poll weeds out people that don’t vote. So the typical politician response is that you don’t expend much effort trying to reach people like my friend, because chances are your efforts won’t translate to votes. That’s probably not indefensible in the cash- and time-strapped context of a political campaign, but now seems like a good time.
The final question is what do you reach your apolitical friends with? There’s no shortage of advice out there for the MA Republican party. Some say just give up, you’re dead and nobody agrees with your point of view. Others say focus on fiscal issues, not social issues, market to the old Yankee Republicans that elected Bill Weld. Still others urge Republicans not to abandon the social issues or you risk losing a voting block. Then there’s the likes of the Boston Globe, which surely has the best interests of Republicans at heart (???), urging Republicans to do what they can to work with the Democrats.
As for me, I’ll just continue to be who I am and take advantage of opportunities that present themselves to talk to my apolitical friends about things that get me bent out of shape. If I’m any good at convincing, I’ll make sure I call all my friends next November.
posted by Olivier Kozlowski | 11:22 AM
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