Recent Books in the Field of Public Opinion Research

Abstract

Jennifer Lees-Marshment focuses in this book on two questions: What works in political marketing, and what is the impact on our democracy? In order to answer these questions the author chose an inductive approach. She held 100 interviews with a variety of practitioners in political marketing, such as politicians, journalists, strategic advisors, PR consultants, and pollsters. These practitioners came from five different countries: The US, the UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. In addition, she carried out a thorough literature search in order to include the academic political marketing literature and theories in her data sets. Based on the interviews and the academic literature the book shows how the political marketing game is played. The author contends that in order to win the political marketing game, elites need to use a wide range of market research sources. She develops a new theory which focuses on three key areas: The public, the leaders and market analysis. She describes a “partnership democracy” where politicians are responsive to the public without abandoning their beliefs and where deliberative market analysis is used to create solutions.