The first rule of trying to reach voters is simple: Fish where the fishing is good.
This means candidates (and political parties) should concentrate their efforts where they’re likely to have the greatest affect. For example, would it make any sense for Republicans to aggressively seek out readers of The Nation? Of course not. The magazine’s readers never vote GOP. With limited resources, you can’t reach everyone.
With this in mind, Dem pollster Mark Penn, who used to direct polling for President Clinton, has advice for Democrats: Stop appearing on Fox News Channel.
While Fox News’ conservative agenda is widely known, Democrats continue to appear on the network with some regularity. The idea is that Fox News is the news network with the highest ratings (by some accounts, as large as CNN and MSNBC combined). As such, Dems can’t afford to simply ignore the network’s viewers all together.
Yet Penn advises the opposite. His research shows that viewers are just as aware as everyone else about Fox News’ conservative political ideology. With it in mind, the network may enjoy high ratings, but its viewers, more often than not, are watching because they’re conservative and enjoy hearing a partisan slant on the news that reinforces their political beliefs.
In other words, Penn sees no reason for Dems to appear on a network to share their message with viewers who are outwardly hostile towards them.
Penn told U.S. News & World Report, “If you want to talk to your base, then go on CNN or public radio.”
This is not to say that CNN and public radio are liberal while FNC is conservative. Penn’s research shows that independents and moderate voters that Democrats seek simply aren’t watching Fox News because they’re turned off by the network’s strident partisanship. So, if you’re looking for moderates and independents, fish where the fishing is good.
In fact, Penn not only recommends that Dems reject Fox News’ calls for interview requests, but also argues that the party stop spending limited funds on advertising on the network.
Fox News political director Marty Ryan responded by saying that Dems will be “missing out” if they ignore the network because it enjoys “a real strong political audience.”
That may be true, but the question remains, if it’s a strong political audience that has no intention of voting Democratic, then why should Dems go on the network and spend money advertising there?