Remember the Frank Luntz poll we told you about last week? The prominent pollster found bipartisan support for a strong climate and clean energy bill, and it’s been generating a lot of buzz.
Here are just a few of the many stories about it:
- True/Slant talks about Luntz’s surprising views on the climate issue, saying he’s “teaming up with Fred Krupp of all people” …
- The Vine has an even better summary of the “strange bedfellows” effect:
It was a little surprising to see [Luntz] this morning at the National Press Club, teaming up with the Environmental Defense Fund on a new set of poll findings about climate legislation. Even Luntz couldn’t help joking about it: “When Fred asked me to do this with him, I asked, ‘Do you know who I am?’
- And Climate Progress and Treehugger both talk about the meaning of poll’s bipartisan results in the wake of recent Democratic election losses.
If you’d like to skip the news clips and see for yourself, in addition to the full audio we shared earlier, we now have 5 minutes of highlights:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSrwjINxEio
2 Comments
Luntz is all over the map, nice to see he gets the science of climate but in the last couple of days a memo of his appeared in which he advises the banking/finance cohort to lie about the impact of the proposed finance reforms. He is however very astute in his understanding of how to formulate effective messages – something the environmental community would do well to study (EDF is much more sophisticated than most). Which brings me to the question I pose to EDF…
In the aftermath of the Copenhagen fiasco, I wonder how it is that the community of environmental organizations have failed so completely to forge strong and unequivocal public support for meaningful climate action in this country after 40 years of trying (I don’t think it can be explained away by the bad economy). Basic management principle would compel a careful reevaluation, but I don’t see any evidence of this.
I suspect that the root of problem is the Eco-Community’s poor marketing, messaging and a general incomprehension of how public opinion is forged in the US today. While I know that effective marketing and advertising is very expensive, but there are ways to address this obstacle.
An interesting sentiment to consider in this context: in an interview for William Greider’s book “Who Will Tell The People,” David Fenton, a communications and marketing expert who specializes in public interest issues, stated, “The corporate world is much more sophisticated about communications than public interest groups… The environmental and social agenda is being set in the media… The battle is waged by activists and corporate marketers: activists who think issues will be settled by facts and rational arguments; and marketers who know this country doesn’t work that way anymore, if it ever did… ”
William Greider, “Who Will Tell The People” (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992) pg: 322
I don’t think it’s bad messaging, as much as the climate anti-science side being very good at it, even to the point of manufacturing things like the 2006 Wegman Report in Congress.See:
http://www.desmogblog.com/plagiarism-conspiracies-felonies-breaking-out-wegman-file
Attached is 115 page report with the background of the Wegman Report and related attacks, the flows of money and memes, organizations, and people.
it gets updated occasionally, , the latest version is the last on the list.