For the last year, we—Demos, Anat Shenker-Osorio (ASO Communications) and Ian Haney López (author of Dog Whistle Politics), —have partnered in an ambitious multi-phase project to build an effective new narrative on race, class, and democracy. The central question we’ve explored is how to engage simultaneously around race and class in ways that strengthen social solidarity, reduce division and scapegoating, and create a viable foundation for progressive policy victories. We crafted, empirically validated, and field-tested a range of narratives and compared these to existing frames.
Lake Research Partners, in collaboration with ASO Communications and Brilliant Corners Research and Strategy, designed and implemented this survey in March-April 2018. Narratives were tested online with 600 adults in Ohio, weighted to reflect the true demographics of the state. Margin of error is +/- 4. Top narratives garnered highest marks in moment-to-moment dial testing, convincing ratings, and share ratings from base and persuadables. Beyond the Ohio results profiled here, we also conducted analytic, qualitative, and quantitative research in California, Indiana, Minnesota, and nationally.
