The voter is the recipient of political communication. All kinds of communication tools such as TV, posters and the Internet are used by political parties to get voters behind them. This article reflects the opinion of voters regarding the means of communication used and the message that politicians try to convey. Attention is paid, among other things, to the degree of objectivity, manipulation, reliability and credibility of the communication and what voters would like to see differently.
Confrontation with means of communication
Voters are approached through various means of communication. Below is a summary of the most common means and the attitude of voters towards this means.
Television
Political parties approach voters using various means of communication. Voters themselves indicate that they are most confronted with political parties through television. This mainly concerns commercials or airtime for political parties, debates and (national) interviews that politicians give in programs such as Pauw and Witteman and other well-watched programs.
Politicians on the street
Voters often see politicians walking on the streets or in the center of the city where they live. In this case, they hand out flyers or pamphlets and chat with voters. Flyers and pamphlets in particular are a frequently recurring tool that voters are confronted with. In some cases, a stall has also been set up for support where all kinds of information material can be found about the party they represent. Gadgets are often handed out, such as scarves, umbrellas, pens or balloons.
Posters
Almost as often as voters are confronted with politicians on the street, they are confronted with posters from political parties. These posters often depict the party leaders with an accompanying logo of the party in question.
Newspaper
Voters also mention the newspaper as a means of communication through which they are reached. Here they are confronted with news reports and the like.
Flyers/pamphlets
As already mentioned under the heading Politicians on the street, voters are often confronted with flyers and pamphlets. These are not only handed out to them by politicians on the street, but also under other circumstances.
Internet
The voter is occasionally reached via the internet.
Radio
Just like with the Internet, voters are only occasionally reached via the radio.
It is striking that voters believe that political parties should communicate with voters more often outside campaign periods. The above means of communication are often noticed during election campaigns. Voters would like to be continuously informed of party developments so that they know better which party to vote for during the next election campaign.
Opinion on political communication
According to voters, political communication often takes place through campaigns. In general, they believe that a campaign in itself is a good instrument for informing voters of positions and further information, because in this way only the most important spearheads of a party are made public and the voter does not have to read an entire party program. by reading. However, voters believe there is room for improvement in the way the campaign is carried out. They believe that messages are presented a little too positively and that parties want to convey too many agenda positions to voters at the same time. This is often confusing, because the voter no longer knows what parties really stand for. This has a negative effect on the reliability and credibility of politicians, political parties and their campaigns.
According to voters, these days it is no longer so much about the content of the messages that politicians proclaim, but about the packaging and the way in which the message is conveyed. Voters want to identify with politicians and that is why it is important that they have a smooth conversation and look like the guy next door.
Only parties with smart and commercial campaigns receive many votes. The SP is mentioned here as an example with their viral marketing campaign in which citizens received a tailor-made email. The disadvantage of this is that voters whose leadership level is below the national average are easily captured by such parties.
Characteristics of political communication
A characteristic of political communication is that the population is not involved enough. It is often one-way traffic in which the parties show that they have everyone’s best interests at heart and that the voter should mainly vote for them. In addition, political communication is increasingly becoming theater and the content of the party program is increasingly receding into the background. Political communication must be more concerned with issues that appeal to society.
Objectivity, manipulation, reliability and credibility
The list below shows the extent to which voters find political communication objective, manipulative, reliable and credible.
Objectively
Political communication is often not experienced as objective. Each political party processes its own positions in its communication, which means that the communication is almost always colored. Voters, on the other hand, also believe that parties cannot be objective because they have to deal with too many disagreements. When forming a coalition, a party also has to surrender some of the positions it was previously so convinced of.
Manipulative
Political communication is experienced as manipulative to a reasonable extent. The extent to which communication manipulates someone depends partly on the person himself. After all, voters are mature and independent and have control over the extent to which they are guided by political communication. On the other hand, politicians try to influence the thoughts of voters using arguments. In some cases, these are arguments that cannot be tested factually, especially not for the average voter. In this case, political communication is indeed manipulative, because people try to get votes from voters under false pretenses.
Trustworthy
Voters find political communication partly reliable. Communication is of course always packaged in such a way that it fits within the parties’ positions, but the problem is that reliability cannot be properly measured and assessed. In this regard, it would not be right to immediately judge that the communication is unreliable. On the other hand, it remains propaganda of course and only the positive aspects of the party are highlighted in advertisements and campaigns. Fortunately for the voter, there are also debates and newspaper articles that often show the true, less positive, face of the party.
Credible
The same arguments are often given for the credibility of political communication as for its reliability: it is partly credible. The credibility of the communication is increased as more experts have their say.
Desired changes in political communication
Voters agree that a number of things can be improved about the way in which politicians use communication. First of all, the emphasis must be shifted from the way in which information is conveyed to the content of the information. Parties must show that they are really there for citizens and are not only interested in their voting behavior. In this context, they must also better reflect society and better meet the wishes and interests of citizens. The many voters who do not vote now might then be reached better, because they feel more addressed and involved.
Political communication should also be more accessible. It should also attract voters’ attention in other ways, for example through more commercials and especially through more active participation on the internet. Voters want to be kept better informed and have more clarity about what is going on. Most do not even know the names of the current ministers and that is not really acceptable, bearing in mind that those unknown ministers do govern society. For example, voters would appreciate special government brochures that clearly describe who currently sits in the House of Representatives and what exactly they do there.
Influence through political communication
Voters’ opinions regarding influence through political communication are divided. On the one hand, voters say they are not influenced by political communication, although they are more influenced during election periods because they pay more attention to it. On the other hand, there are voters who indicate that they are influenced by communication, whether unconsciously or not, for example by Postbus 51 commercials. The influence is greatest during election campaigns.