… The first hurdle in gathering evidence that campaign events matter in voter behavior and election outcomes is to measure how many people are even aware that a campaign event, one that is treated as noteworthy by the campaigns, the media, and advocacy groups, took place. …
Over the past eight months, we have gathered survey data on individuals’ awareness of more than four dozen campaign events. As we continue to collect and analyze the survey responses, the data show substantial variation in awareness across types of campaign events, timing in the campaign cycle, and respondents with different personal characteristics.
But it was a recent campaign event that caught our attention and stood out as an excellent example of how difficult it can be for a political campaign to get out its message about a campaign event to voters. [cont.]
Tammy Frisby, Hoover Institution, Stanford (Model Politics)