The Missing Piece in Turning Out the Unmarried Women

1
Issue Information

• The Missing Piece in Turning Out the Unmarried
  Womens Vote

Womens Voices. Women Vote.
2
Objectives

• Understand Information that will help unmarried
  women turn out in 2006
• What kind of information
• How best to present it
• How best to frame it

3
Methodology

• Websurvey
• 1000 unmarried women registered voters
• 5 mailers
• 4 states Arizona, Missouri, Ohio, Washington
• Non-probability sample
• July 24-26, 2006
• Focus groups
• Unmarried women registered voters
• Mix of likely and unlikely 2006 voters
• Phoenix, Arizona and Cleveland, OH
• July 10 12, 2006

4
Key Findings the Need for Information

• Unmarried women often do not vote because they
  see elections as irrelevant to them or do not
  have the time or opportunity to learn about the
  candidates and issues.
• Family and friends, local television news, and
  the Internet are key information sources about
  politics and elections.
• Information from non-partisan sources is more
  trustworthy than candidate mail, the Internet,
  TV, and radio.
• Non-partisan organizations are an important
  source of trusted political information if the
  information is objective and unbiased.

5
Key Findings Information Content and Feel

• Issue information about elections and candidates
  must be balanced, without spin. Unmarried
  women want to see side-by-side comparisons of
  candidate positions presented fairly and
  accurately.
• Citations (such as websites) for statements made
  about the candidates make the information
  verifiable and thus more believable.
• Women value information both about the issues in
  elections, and, to a lesser degree, about casting
  their ballot.
• If unmarried women connect emotionally to images
  and language in direct mail, they are more likely
  to read it and find it motivating.
• In this research, unmarried women respond to
  information about voting that is framed by a
  message that evokes civic responsibility to cast
  their vote and the notion that their vote can
  make a difference.

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Unmarried Women in 2006
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Unmarried Women Underrepresented in the Electorate
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Interest in the November Election
As you know, there will be elections in November
for the U.S. Congress and other offices. On a
scale of one to ten, with one meaning NOT AT ALL
interested and ten meaning VERY INTERESTED,
please tell me how interested you are in this
years election. (Percent Responding)
Democracy Corps, July 16-18, 2006
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Country Headed on the Wrong Track
Generally speaking, do you think that things in
this country are going in the right direction, or
do you feel things have gotten pretty seriously
off on the wrong track?
Democracy Corps, July 16-18, 2006
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Worried about the economy and Iraq
In deciding how to vote for Congress this
November, which ONE of the following issues is
MOST important to you? And from that list, which
one of the following issue areas would be SECOND
MOST important to you in deciding how to vote for
a candidate for Congress? (Combined score for
each issue)
Democracy Corps, June 25-29, 2006
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The Problem with Traditional Political
Communication
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Information No.1 Barrier to Voting
Here are some more statements about registering
and voting. For each one, please tell me whether
or not it describes you. I just need a yes or no
response.
(Percent Unmarried Women Responding Yes,
describes me)
Womens Voices. Women Vote.  January 4-19, 2006
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Information sources Non-partisan info more
trusted than candidate
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How Non-Partisan Organizations Can Help
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Principles for Effective, Credible Information

• Objectivity
• Non-partisan
• Disclaimer about not endorsing candidates
• Balance
• Side-by-side display
• Each candidate favors some issues and opposes
  some issues
• Verifiability
• Web links to candidates
• Web links to government
• Web links to non-partisan information sources
• Simplicity
• Concise
• Many women do not have time to learn about the
  issues

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Objective
17
Balanced
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Verifiable
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Concise
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Information Content

• How Candidates Stand on the Issues
• A guide to voting
• Important issues, like education, healthcare,
  retirement, jobs, gas prices
• Not necessarily framed as womens issues
• Include Candidate Background
• Where they come from
• Experience
• Values
• The Basics political process
• How to vote
• What day is Election Day
• Location of polling place

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The Test
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The Test

• 5 Images
• Young Womens Guide
• Empowerment
• Flag
• Womens Guide
• 1-2-3
• 4 states
• Arizona
• Missouri lt example
• Ohio
• Washington

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YWG
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Empowerment
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Flag
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Womens Guide
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1-2-3
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Backs Process
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Backs Issue
30
WVWV Mailer selected 10 times more than campaign
mailer
Hotel/Casino promotion
Credit Card Offer
Campaign Mailer
Total WVWV
Retail catalog
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Helpful
How helpful was this information to you, on a
scale of 0 to 10, where 10 is extremely helpful
and 0 is not at all helpful?
Percent of respondents assigning a rating of 10
(extremely helpful) to the mailer
32
Believable
Please indicate whether you agree or disagree
with the following statement The information on
the mailing was believable.
Percent of respondents assigning a rating of 10
(extremely believable) to the mailer
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Caught Attention
Please indicate whether you agree or disagree
with the following statement. The mailing
caught my attention and made me want to learn
more. (Zero to ten scale)
Percent of respondents assigning a rating of 10
(caught my attention) to the mailer
34
Issue information more important than process
information
In thinking about the mailings you just saw,
would you rather they included additional
information about the candidates or additional
information about how to cast your ballot, like
where your voting place is, what the hours are,
or how to cast an absentee ballot?
62
35
Issue information more important than
biographical information
In thinking about the mailings you just saw,
would you rather they included additional
information about the candidates' stands on the
issues or additional information about the
candidates' history and experience?
64
36
Open Ended Responses
What part of this mailing stood out to you?
Multiple responses permitted will not sum to
100
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Persuading Unmarried Women to Vote
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Turnout
Initial Turnout
Final Turnout
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Shift Summary, by Interest to Vote
What are the chances that you will vote in the
election for Congress this November, on a scale
of 0 to 10, where 10 means you are absolutely
certain to vote and 0 means you are certain not
to vote?
40
Messages
The mailings you just read have certain messages
about why it is important to vote. Which of the
following reasons stands out as the most
important reason to vote?
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Slogans
Here are a series of statements that might
motivate people to vote this year. Please select
whether you find each statement to be a very
convincing, somewhat convincing, a little
convincing or not at all convincing reason to
vote this year.
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(No Transcript)
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Open Ended Responses
What part of this mailing stood out to you?
Multiple responses permitted will not sum to
100