The mystery of Obama’s approval rating

{mosads}To solve this mystery, we need to probe deeper, past the typical surface explanations of Obama’s behavior and personality. The question is not “what is Obama doing that is working?” but “why is what he’s doing working?” and the answer to this pivotal question lies in the needs of the American people. Americans see something relevant and meaningful in him and this is contributing to his approval rating. Let me draw a parallel with consumer marketing to explain why this point is so critical. 

I have spent over 20 years working in consumer marketing and advertising and have sat in hundreds of meetings discussing “ad breakthrough:” how well a particular ad is going to breakthrough the clutter of other advertising messages and grab the consumer’s attention. We assumed the funnier, brassier, louder, or crazier we made the ad the more attention grabbing it would be. When in fact it is not about “grabbing” the consumer’s attention but about “earning” it. Only advertising that connects with consumers at a meaningful level can truly earn their attention. So it is not about the ad breaking through the clutter, but the consumer breaking into the ad because it contains something that is relevant and meaningful to them. This same concept applies to political candidates and is exactly what happened between Obama and the American people in 2008 and continues to happen today. There is a need among Americans that President Obama is uniquely fulfilling.

Based on consumer marketing research techniques, Democracy Cafeteria conducted an evergreen research study across the political spectrum that allowed us to peel back the onion and uncover the deeper, more personal issues Americans face on a daily basis. We heard in their own words those insights that would potentially pull them into a candidate’s message.  

In the research, an independent voter, lets call her Mary, told a story that best demonstrates the need Obama is meeting. Mary drives a school bus and works in the elementary school cafeteria. One day there was a big food fight among the kids that left quite a mess, a mess that the kids were not required to cleanup. The school administrators required Mary and the other cafeteria workers to do the cleaning out of fear of getting calls from angry parents at making their kids do physical labor. Instead of holding the kids accountable for their own actions, the buck was passed to someone else, in this case, Mary. Her story is a good example of how the rest of the people in the research viewed Washington in general: full of childish politicians with no more accountability than the kids throwing mashed potatoes and peas at each other. I believe an important piece of the puzzle of what is holding up Obama’s approval rating is that Americans see him as “the grownup in the cafeteria.”

Say what you will about his presidency, but as a leader Obama has been willing to hold himself, his party, and Washington as a whole more accountable. A good example happened last January when he admitted that he had lost touch with the American people because he was too focused on policy making in the first part of his Presidency. Other examples are when he acknowledged to a few of our allies that we as a country have made some mistakes in recent history, mistakes that we will learn from in order to better serve our mission as a country. In an era of immense political distrust, citizens need a President who is willing to set this type of example for all Americans; this is one of Obama’s strengths. 

The ultimate question is whether he can carry this over into the 2012 campaign. With the negative drag of the economy on his re-election bid, he is going to have to be that much more in touch with the deeper needs of the American people. It will be critical for his strategists to accurately identify those insightful, unmet needs Americans have of our elected officials that Obama can uniquely meet.

Christopher Brace is the owner of Democracy Cafeteria, a political consulting firm bringing consumer marketing strategy and research principles to the political arena. He has over 20 years of consumer marketing experience with some of the top brand-marketing firms in the US. He holds an MBA in Marketing and Management from Michigan State University and can be reached at chris@democracycafeteria.org.