Some items seem fairly obvious, like advice to use short words and sentences, or the notion that Americans aren't big readers. But Luntz convincingly makes the case for including them by providing interesting examples of people shooting themselves in the foot by not recognizing them — e.g., pre-Inconvenient Truth Al Gore talking over the heads of the public — and related observations, like the way older viewers at TV studio tapings watch the actual performance, while their younger compatriots watch through the television monitors. Luntz has certainly amassed a wealth of information in his years of studying the American public.
Some of the conclusions he draws from his research are less obvious and more interesting. The denizens of "exurbia" have acquired great political importance. American consumers don't respond well to patriotic messages. (And I thought that was just here in the city-state of New York.) Perhaps most interesting, "the vast majority of Americans don't vote based on particular issues at all." Sure, we have a vague sense that a politician's personality and character matter, but probably only the most cynical of us will be unsurprised at, for example, the large degree to which success in a national election depends upon a candidate's optimistic outlook.
Some view Luntz's product as callous and cynical manipulation - "spinning lies into truth," as Daily Kos has put it. Others may take him at face value when he writes that his "language eschews overt partisanship and aims to find common ground." But either way, the process of developing "words that work" is fascinating, as described by the author in a brief chapter about how focus groups and dial sessions work. (As one who has lived in both Boston and New York I was particularly interested to read that "New York City sessions are notable for their uncontrollable chaos and the frequent use of profanity. New Yorkers like nothing and hate everything," whereas "trying to get people from New England to say anything beyond a simple yes or no is virtually impossible.")
Enhancing its implicit claim of accurately assessing what we might call the "sense of the American people" is the book's extreme currency - it's aware of the recent Democratic takeover of Congress, for example. Its chapter on "Old Words, New Meaning" notes that since a culture's use of language is always changing, a language pollster's work is never done, a point borne out by the fact that Luntz's discussion of the term "bipartisan" has missed out on Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent coining of the term "post-partisanship." Given a few more weeks before publication, I expect Luntz would have been all over that - approvingly.
Article comments
1 - Kare Anderson
Best review I've seen of his book; especially agree with ""It's not what you say, it's precisely how you say it"
For understanding how we are influenced so we can make better choices - and can be clear and memorable abut what we say turn to Ideas That Stick, (the classic), Smaart Choices and The Paradox of Choice