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Marketing
a politician: LET’S say you’re running for a seat in Congress. However, you were just pressured by party-mates to throw your hat into the ring. Deep down you don’t want to win. And you want to get back at all those businessmen who contributed to your party. Here are some ideas on how to lose your election. It’s based on survey data from the Social Weather Stations (SWS). (This writer is an SWS fellow, but the article is not an SWS paper.) o Insist that Joseph Estrada is still the legitimate President. The SWS February 2000 survey asked the people to pick which of the following statements was closer to their opinion. Here were the results. "What was expressed at Edsa People Power II was the sentiment of the majority:" 71 percent "What was expressed at Edsa People Power II was the sentiment of only a few:" 28 percent In the February 2000 survey, 61 percent agreed with this test statement: "People Power 2, where former President Joseph Estrada was forced to abandon his position, was proper." Only 20 percent disagreed with it, for a net agreement score of +41 percentage points. The same poll ran the test statement, "The military and the police made the right decision in withdrawing their support from President Estrada." The ratios were similar: 59 percent agreed with this versus 20 percent who disagreed. The net trust rating of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (percent who trust her minus the percent who distrust her) has turned from negative to positive. Here is the recent time series: December 2000 -9 January 2001 -11 February 2001 +34 That’s a huge 45-percentage point reversal. In short, the nation has accepted her new leader. o Ignore the problems of the poor. Joseph Estrada won the elections of 1998 largely because he projected himself as the spokesman of the poor. The December 1996 SWS national survey asked the people to choose three qualities they sought in a presidential candidate. The top trait was being pro-poor: Pro-poor 64 percent Approachable 40 percent Knowledgeable in running economic affairs 38 percent Intelligent 38 percent Never involved in corruption 34 percent Decisive 27 percent Enemy of criminals 24 percent Religious 22 percent High morality 11 percent In survey after survey, the people keep saying that high prices are the nation’s top difficulty. For example, the December 2000 poll asked, "What do you think is the most important problem of the country today?" The results were: High prices 43 percent Unemployment 10 percent Governance 19 percent Other economic problems 17 percent Public order and safety 5 percent The Erap campaign knew the survey results and crafted the slogans, "Erap para sa mahihirap," "Kontra sa pagtaas ng presyo," "Trabaho para sa Pilipino." o Treat the elections as a class war. In the SWS March 5-18, 2001 poll, those in the top 13 senatorial slots numbered 8 from the People Power Coalition (PPC), 4 from Puwersa ng Masa, and 1 independent. The distribution was nine PPC, three Puwersa ng Masa, and one independent for the comfortable class ABC. It was a similar 8-4-1 for the poor class D, and also 8-4-1 for the very poor class E. Recall the test statement that People Power 2 was just. This belief cut across classes: net agreement was +52 in class ABC, +44 in class D, and +25 in class E. What about the test statement that it was right for the military and police to withdraw support from Joseph Estrada. The net agreement scores for this were +40 for class ABC, +43 for class D, and +28 for class E. o Badmouth the Church. SWS asks the people if they trust or distrust certain institutions, then computes a reading of net trust: percent trust minus percent distrust. The Church usually gets very high scores. For example, these were the net trust ratings of the December 1999 poll: Police +16 Local courts +21 Judges +23 Supreme Court +29 Newspapers +38 Church +83 o Ask for an endorsement from a Church official. The people are against active political support from the Church. Back in the April 1992 survey, SWS ran this question: "If a candidate is endorsed by your priest/minister, what would you most probably do? Would you Vote for him/her, Not Vote for him/her, or it would have No Effect?" While 52 percent said the clergy’s endorsement would have No Effect, 28 percent said they would probably NOT vote for the candidate. Only 19 percent said they would probably vote for him/her. This revealed a backlash. o Oppose censorship of movies. This issue is in the news, so it should be examined. Contrary to what columnists think, a large majority of the Filipino people favor the censorship of films. The SWS December 1999 survey ran the test statement, "Censorship of films is necessary to uphold moral standards." The results were: Agree 71 percent Disagree 13 percent Undecided 15 percent The Agree scores were the majority in all the classes: 80 percent in class ABC, 72 percent in class D, and 57 percent in class E. The same survey asked what bothered viewers when they watched movies. This distribution was obtained: Sexual scenes 47 percent Violence 32 percent Lewd language 22 percent None 1 percent Hence, only one percent was not bothered by sexual or violent content in movies. o Shy away from television appearances. In February 2001, the people were asked how they got their information on the impeachment trial. By far the main source was TV (60 percent), followed by radio (12 percent). The other sources were print media and friends and relatives. In the December 1999 poll, the people revealed how often they followed the news. Among TV viewers, 61 percent followed the news daily. The corresponding ratios were 37 percent for radio and 17 percent for newspapers. The medium for daily attention is TV. It’s no wonder that broadcaster Noli de Castro leads the Senate race, with an impressive 59 percent of the electorate, as seen in the March poll.
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CCHOPE ELECTION 2001 
