Lack of Progress in Shutdown Talks Batters Republican Brand
Lack of Progress in Shutdown Talks Batters Republican Brand
On the government shutdown front, it’s been a week of accusations without progress. On the brand front, the Republican brand is taking the brunt of voter’s frustrations. The brand’s engagement assessment – its ability to meet Republican voter expectations for their Ideal Political Party – dropped another 5% this week, for a total loss of 17% in two weeks. The Democratic brand is down another 3% this week, down a total of 10% in that same time period.
Currently, according to 450 registered Democrats and 467 registered Republicans (all non-government workers), using Brand Keys highly validated emotional brand engagement assessment, here’s how voters currently rate their party as being seen to uphold the values of their Ideal:
Democratic Party Republican Party
10/10/12 83% 77%
10/02/13 76% 65%
10/08/1373% 60%
Brand Keys evaluates the four engagement drivers of the Ideal Political Party (calculated as 100%), which can be described as:
Action: Does the party have a comprehensive, realistic, well-considered plan?
Compassion: Does the party care about all the people?
Perception: Does the party have a deep understanding of the problems facing the county?
Resolve: Does the party have the strength and leadership to guide the country?
“Each group of registered voters defines what’s important to them via their Ideal and, not surprisingly, requires different values to meet their ideologies, said market researcher Robert Passikoff, president of Brand Keys.
Democrats see their Ideal Political Party this way, losing brand engagement strength on their 4th most-important driver, Action:
Perception
Resolve
Compassion
Action
Republicans, on the other hand, view their Ideal Political Party this way, losing more brand engagement ground this week on three of the four drivers: Perception, Action, and Compassion, and maintaining engagement strength on their 1st most-important driver, Resolve.
Resolve
Perception
Action
Compassion
Speaker John Boehner, whose recent demands to delay parts of the Affordable Care Act in return for approving funds to end the shutdown has become the human embodiment of the Republican brand but has recently adopted a slightly more conciliatory tone in his comments to reporters saying, "There are no boundaries here. There's nothing on the table, there's nothing off the table."
“But with default looming and no resolution in sight, and with most economists’ views that a default would be cataclysmic, in addition to Republican brand losses, the Speaker ought to find something to put on the table quickly,” added Passikoff. “Because the brand engagement assessments combine psychological inquiry and higher-order statistical analyses, they ‘fuse’ emotional and rational values and have been independently validated to provide highly accurate reads as to how consumers will behave in the marketplace.
And when it comes to brand engagement assessments, whether it’s pizza or political parties, consumers and voters both look for their brands to deliver.
October 8, 2013