Perception and reality By Mark Mellman

[Guest guest]

>Perception and reality

>By Mark Mellman

>

>When issue groups or corporations ask me to work

>with them in devising messages to help sell

>their perspective on public policy, I usually

>assume the goal is to find an argument voters

>could agree with and find compelling.

>

>Oddly enough, though, sometimes the most

>effective message is not one that voters find

>persuasive, but rather an argument that

>politicians assume voters find compelling.

>Witness the battle over fuel economy standards five years ago.

>

>Polls consistently found over three-quarters of

>Americans favored stricter Corporate Average

>Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. Battling the

>majority view, industry deployed its message:

>Pickup truck owners, an important segment,

>particularly in rural states, would be livid at

>senators who supported CAFE because tougher

>standards would doom their vehicles.

>

>What if it was all wrong, though? What if pickup

>owners not only overwhelmingly favored CAFE, but

>also rejected as completely inaccurate the

>notion that fuel economy regulations would take

>pickups off the road? What if it was a message

>that no one believed, one that persuaded very few?

>

>That was exactly the case. Our poll of pickup

>owners, for the Union of Concerned Scientists,

>found they favored stricter CAFE standard by 77

>percent-18 percent. A mere 8 percent believed

>the core opposition argument & shy; that automakers

>would stop manufacturing pickups.

>

>Alas, our poll was too little, too late. Members

>of Congress had come to believe firmly, based on

>no evidence whatsoever, that a vote for CAFE

>would engender the wrath of pickup drivers.

>

>Now, with fuel economy again on the agenda,

>industry exhumed its message, raising the

>specter of irate pickup drivers. We replicated

>our survey, this time for the National

>Environmental Trust, and this time much earlier

>in the debate, and found even greater support

>for CAFE among owners of these vehicles.

>

>Eighty-three percent of pickup owners favor

>requiring the auto industry to increase fuel

>efficiency standards for cars, SUVs, and their

>own vehicles, with 70 percent “stronglyâ€

>favoring such an increase. Just 9 percent of pickup owners oppose an

increase.

>

>Support for higher standards is undiminished in

>segments upon which opponents focus. For

>example, 88 percent of rural pickup owners

>support higher standards, as do those who use

>their pickup on the job (84 percent) and those

>economically dependent on the auto industry (87

>percent) and agriculture (91 percent).

>

>Going a step further, we provided respondents

>with arguments on both sides of the issue,

>including opponents’ message that stricter

>standards would take vehicles like SUVs,

>minivans, and pickups off the market, as well as

>arguments that increasing standards would raise

>auto prices, hurt U.S. auto companies, cost

>jobs, and reduce safety. Despite these reputedly

>powerful opposition messages, 72 percent still

>favor requiring the auto industry to increase

>fuel efficiency, while just 23 percent oppose.

>

>The simple fact is that industry messages lack basic credibility.

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