Persuading Ordinary Voters

Sample Animated Content

Know The System has a comprehensive plan for a site that entices ordinary, independent voters into learning about forward-thinking policies and solutions. Not via policy papers, and not via shallow sound bites.

It must be easy, quick, entertaining, substantive, objective, and individualized. It must be at the proper level, designed for citizens who do not usually devote a lot of time to public issues. Here’s a health care policy example:

 

 

Notice the attention paid to explaining the problem . Only when voters understand the shape and extent of the problem will they be ready to hear about proposed solutions.

For many people, though, jumping directly into a policy issue—even if packaged into a video like that above—is a bridge too far. They need to be “warmed up” first. One approach that will both hook them in, and will help them start to understand an issue’s challenges and tradeoffs, is a brief, simulated, informal debate like this:

 

 

Did you find yourself rooting for any one character? Notice how it does not try to pretend there’s only one side – opposing views are aired. This is very important for appealing to independents. (This script is of course just illustrative.)

The video animations will be organized in a structure that lets voters follow their own questions – starting simple, then drilling in deeper as they wish. It can be thought of as a kind of small, non-boring, all-multimedia Wikipedia of current political topics. Whenever voters hear about topics in the news or in other contexts, they’ll swoop in, quickly learn about what interests them, and swoop out. The net effect will be greater grass roots support for progressive policies and solutions.

To get further information, contact us at info@knowthesystem.org.