Upload
marcus-leaning
View
721
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
The number, form and genre of direct mail marketing and
door to door political leafleting in the February
2013 Eastleigh by-election.
Marcus Leaning University of Winchester
Eastleigh
• Located in Hampshire.
• Electorate of 78,313 (Boundary commission 2011).
• More densely populated than the rest of south east England.
• Historic transport industry (railways, airport, shipbuilding)
• Currently retail employs 33% of workforce, leisure also big.
Politics
• Constituency created in 1955.
• Held by Conservatives until 1994.
• David Chidgey won the in 1994 by-election following the death of Stephen Milligan.
• Chris Huhne held the seat in 2005.
• But was arrested and (eventually) pleaded guilty for ‘perverting the course of justice’ after getting his then wife to accept speeding points in 2003.
• Mike Thornton (Lib Dem) held the seat on the 28th Feb 2013.
Electoral Campaigning
• The Lib Dem victory was attributed to a ‘strong ground game’ – the mobilisation of lots of political activists to engage voters.
• This paper looks at one aspect of the campaign, the door to door leafleting.
• An important but (recently) less studied electoral campaigning technique.
The impact of the local activist on electoral campaign performance
• Norris (2002) sees three periods in campaigning: Pre-modern, modern and post modern.
• Premodern were activist based, during the modern period the Nuffield Studies reported the futility of local activism in campaigns as elections are won or lost on national issues (Cutts, 2006a).
• Postmodern electioneering – that occurring post 1993 (Norris, 2000) is about ‘strategic targeting’.
• This has resulted in a revitalisation of local activism (Cutts, 2006b) underpinned by central party support that bolster constituency parties (Fisher and Denver, 2008).
• This requires lots of activists (Pattie and Johnston, 2009) and can overcome limited spending (Fisher, 2011).
• Door to door leafleting is a good barometer of local activism.• However the leaflets are not homogeneous and actually offer
further insight into local activism.
Method
• Consideration of all deliveries to one address over the campaign period.
• This was from the day of Huhne’s guilty plea (4th Feb), though the official declaration of candidates and official start of campaign (13th Feb) to the election day (28th Feb).
• In total 61 printed party political electoral communications were delivered from 11 of the 14 standing parties.
• Look at:– Number and frequency;– Type;– Discursive strategies
Number of door to door delivery by party
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
1
Liberal Democrat
UKIP
Labour
Conservative
Independent
English Democrats
National HealthAction
Christian
Peace
TUSC
Wessex Regionalist
PARTY No. of communications Votes
Liberal Democrat 24 13,342
UKIP 13 11,571
Labour 7 4,088
Conservative 6 10,559
Independent 3 768
English Democrats 3 70
National Health Action 2 392
Christian 1 163
Peace 1 128
TUSC 1 62
Wessex Regionalist 1 30
Beer, Baccy and Crumpet 0 235
Monster Raving Loony 0 136
Elvis Loves Pets 0 72
Number of leaflets delivered by day
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Types of communication
• Can be considered by:– Financial cost to produce and deliver.
– Labour to produce and deliver.
– Mode of communication.
• 4 basic types of communication:– Leaflet
– Impersonal letter
– Personal letter / communication
– Pseudo magazine/newspaper
Leaflets
• Long heritage.
• The ‘base’ door to door political communication.
• Relatively cheap to produce but intensive to deliver – by activist.
• Tone is often ‘proclamatory’.
Impersonal letters
• In many ways similar to a leaflet – tend to be more issue focussed.
• Again relatively cheap to produce but intensive to deliver – by activists.
• Tone is ‘discursive’ or ‘conversational’.
Personal letter / communication
• Addressed to an individual.
• Explicit targeting.
• Variable costs to produce.
• Expensive / intensive to deliver- either• by Royal Mail -
candidates get one free delivery.
• Or on occasion by hand by activist.
Pseudo magazine/newspaper
• Mimicry or remediation of local newspaper or magazine.
• Visually distinct.
• Occasionally politically ‘camouflaged’.
• Expensive to produce.
• Intensive to deliver.
Type of communication by partyParty Leaflets
Activistdelivered
ImpersonalletterActivistdelivered
Personal letterPaid delivery
Pseudonewspaper magazine
Total Activistdelivered
Total Paid for delivery
Total
Liberal Democrat 15 6 (1 hand delivered) 3 19 5 24
UKIP 9 2 2 11 2 13
Labour 4 3 4 3 7
Conservative 1 2 3 4 2 6
Independent 3 3 3
English Democrats 3 3 3
National Health Action
2 2 2
Christian 1 1 1
Peace 1 1 1
TUSC 1 1 1
Wessex Regionalist
1 1 1
Hmmm…
• Lib dems – lots of activism and lots spent.
• Ukip – lots of activism but not so much money.
• Labour – a bit of activism and a bit of money spent.
• Conservative – similar amount of activism but lots of money spent.
References
• Cutts, D. (2006a) Continuous campaigning and electoral outcomes: The Liberal Democrats in Bath. Political Geography, 25(1), 72-88.
• Cutts, D. (2006b) “Where We Work We Win”: A Case Study of Local Liberal Democrat Campaigning. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion & Parties, 16(3), 221-242.
• Fisher, J., Cutts, D. J. and Fieldhouse, E. (2011) ‘Constituency Campaigning in 2010’, in D. Wring , R. Mortimore and S. Atkinson (eds), Political Communication in Britain: The Leader Debates, the Campaign and the Media in the 2010 General Election. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 198–217.
• Fisher, J. and Denver, D. (2008) From Foot-Slogging to Call Centres and Direct Mail: A Framework for Analyzing the Development of District-Level Campaigning,European Journal of Political Research, 47 (6), 794–826.
• Norris, P. (2000) A Virtuous Circle: Political Communications in PostindustrialSocieties. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Pattie, C., & Johnston, R. (2009) Still Talking, But Is Anyone Listening?: The Changing Face of Constituency Campaigning in Britain, 1997—2005. Party Politics, 15(4), 411-434.