Frank Luntz

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Frank Luntz

Frank Luntz at a visit to Hofstra University
Born February 23, 1962 (1962-02-23) (age 46)
Nationality American
Education University of Pennsylvania
Oxford University
Occupation Political Pollster
Website
www.luntz.com

Frank I. Luntz (born February 23, 1962) is an American corporate and political consultant and pollster who has worked most recently with the Fox News Channel running focus groups after presidential debates. Luntz's specialty is “testing language and "finding words" that will help his clients sell their product or "turn public opinion on an issue or a candidate.”[1] Luntz formed The Luntz Research Companies in 1992, and maintains an office in Alexandria, Virginia.

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[edit] Background

Luntz is the son of Lester L. Luntz, D.D.S., a forensic dentist, and Phyllys Luntz.

Frank graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania and was named a Thouron Fellow. He received his Doctorate in Politics from Oxford University.

Luntz has conducted more than 1,500 focus groups[citation needed] and surveys for companies the world over, including: American Express, AT&T, Business Roundtable, Disney, Federal Express, General Motors, McDonalds, National Association of Manufacturers, The New Yorker, Newsweek, Pfizer, Playboy, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, U.S. News & World Report, and the Wall Street Journal.

Luntz pioneered a focus group technique called "The Instant Response" in which poll subjects use a dial to indicate their approval or disapproval as they watch an event (such as a movie, television ad or political debate).[citation needed] This enables the pollster (or television audience) to see in real time which words or phrases get positive or negative reactions from the poll subjects.

Luntz has appeared as a consultant or panel member on a number of television news shows, including: Capital Gang, Crossfire, Good Morning America, Hannity and Colmes, Hardball with Chris Matthews, Meet the Press, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, Nightline, and The Today Show.

Luntz has written op-eds for such publications as: The Financial Times, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.

Luntz was an Adjunct Professor at the University of Pennsylvania from 1989 until 1996 and also taught at George Washington University.

[edit] Use of language

Focus groups and interviews are an important part of the process for finding the right words and phrases. In an article in The New Yorker Luntz is quoted as saying, "The way my words are created is by taking the words of others — average Americans, not politicians. I've moderated an average of a hundred plus focus groups a year over five years...I show them language that I've created. Then I leave a line for them to create language for me."[2]

In a January 9, 2007, interview on Fresh Air with Terry Gross, Luntz redefined the term "Orwellian"in a positive sense, saying that if one reads Orwell's Essay On Language (presumably referring to Politics and the English Language), "To be 'Orwellian' is to speak with absolute clarity, to be succinct, to explain what the event is, to talk about what triggers something happening…and to do so without any pejorative whatsoever."[3]

Soon thereafter on the same program, he discussed his use of the term, "energy exploration" (oil drilling). His research on the matter involved showing people a picture of current oil drilling and asking if in the picture it "looks like exploration or drilling." He said that 90 percent of the people he spoke to said it looked like exploring. "Therefore I'd argue that it is a more appropriate way to communicate." He went on to say "if the public says after looking at the pictures, that doesn't look like my definition of drilling—it looks like my definition of exploring—then don't you think we should be calling it what people see it to be, rather than adding a political aspect to it all?" Terry Gross responded: "Should we be calling it what it actually is, as opposed to what somebody thinks it might be? The difference between exploration and actually getting out the oil—they're two different things, aren't they?"[3]

On C-SPAN's After Words program on January 29, 2007, Luntz again attempted to illustrate the value of his "deep sea energy exploration" euphemism saying, "'Drilling' suggests that oil is pouring into the ocean. In Katrina, not a single drop of oil spilled in the Gulf of Mexico from the rigs themselves. That's why deep sea exploration is a more appropriate term." [4]

[edit] Global warming

Although Luntz later tried to distance himself from the Bush administration policy, it was his idea to discredit the idea of global warming science to keep the issue from influencing voters in the 2000 and 2004 U.S. presidential elections. Luntz has since said that he is not responsible for what the administration has done since that time. Though he now believes humans have contributed to global warming, he maintains that the science was in fact incomplete, and his recommendation sound, at the time he made it.[5]

In a 2002 memo to President George W. Bush titled "The Environment: A Cleaner, Safer, Healthier America", obtained by the Environmental Working Group, Luntz wrote: "The scientific debate is closing [against us] but not yet closed. There is still a window of opportunity to challenge the science...Voters believe that there is no consensus about global warming within the scientific community. Should the public come to believe that the scientific issues are settled, their views about global warming will change accordingly. Therefore, you need to continue to make the lack of scientific certainty a primary issue in the debate, and defer to scientists and other experts in the field."[6]

[edit] 2005 UK Conservative leadership election

In 2005 Luntz carried out a focus group on the Conservative leadership race on the BBC current affairs show Newsnight. The focus group's overwhelmingly positive reaction to David Cameron was seen by many as crucial in making him the favorite in a crowded field. Cameron was the eventual victor.[7] In March 2007, Newsnight invited him back to gauge comparative opinions on Cameron, Gordon Brown and Sir Menzies Campbell in the city of Birmingham.

[edit] 2007 Irish general elections

Dr Luntz carried out a focus group research with the Irish state broadcaster RTE to gather the opinions of the Irish people before the May 24th 2007 general elections. RTÉ hoped to show viewers some of the campaigning techniques the political parties were using without their knowledge.[8]

[edit] 2007 Australian federal election

Another focus group of swinging voters was analysed by Luntz in the lead-up to the November poll between the ruling Coalition and the opposition Labor party. Like the Irish scenario, the Coalition was well established, presiding over the country for 11 years and overseeing continued economic growth for much of that period. He noted that unlike the lead-up to the Irish elections, Australia had a stronger and more popular leader in Kevin Rudd: "This is much closer to the Irish election where the leader just barely scraped in, Bertie Ahern, because the economy was so good. But the big difference there was the opposition leader was not as good as Kevin Rudd." Luntz was brought in to conduct his research in a collaborative effort by Sky News Australia and The Australian newspaper.[9]

[edit] Criticism

In 1997, he was reprimanded by the American Association for Public Opinion Research for refusing to release poll data to support his claimed results "because of client confidentiality". Diane Colasanto, who was president of the AAPOR when it reprimanded Luntz, "It is simply wanting to know, How many people did you question? What were the questions? We understand the need for confidentiality, but once a pollster makes results public, the information needs to be public. People need to be able to evaluate whether it was sound research."[10] In 2000 he was censured by the National Council on Public Polls "for allegedly mischaracterizing on MSNBC the results of focus groups he conducted during the [2000] Republican Convention." In September 2004, MSNBC dropped Luntz from its planned coverage of that year's presidential debate, following a letter from Media Matters that outlined Luntz's GOP ties and questionable polling methodology.[11][12] In a video piece, entertainers and libertarians Penn & Teller lambasted Luntz for his comment that the key to survey polling is "to ask a question in the way that you get the right answer".[13]

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] References

  1. ^ Interview Frank Luntz. PBS Frontline. Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
  2. ^ Lemann, Nicholas (October 16, 2000), “The Word Lab: The mad Science Behind What the Candidates Say”, The New Yorker 
  3. ^ a b Fresh Air with Terry Gross, Frank Luntz Explains 'Words That Work', January 9, 2007. Retrieved June 28, 2007.
  4. ^ After Words: Frank Luntz, author of "Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear" interviewed by John McCaslin
  5. ^ (2006). "Climate chaos: Bush's climate of fear" [TV Programme]. UK: BBC.
  6. ^ Memo exposes Bush's new green strategy
  7. ^ "How a celebrity pollster created Cameron" by Nick Cohen, The Observer, 10 December 2006
  8. ^ The Luntz Effect (English). Irish Election (2006-12-10).
  9. ^ Voters may return to Howard The Australian
  10. ^ Chinni, Dante (2000-05-26). Why should we trust this man?. Salon.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-30.
  11. ^ Morin, Richard (2000-08-28). Famous for 15 Minutes. The Washington Post. Retrieved on 2007-09-30.
  12. ^ Luntz not appearing in Dem Forum Media Matters June 27, 2007
  13. ^ Penn Jillette, Teller, Frank Luntz. (2006-05-29). Penn & Teller: Bullshit! "Numbers" (season 4, episode 9) [Television production]. Showtime.

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME Luntz, Frank
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION American political consultant and pollster
DATE OF BIRTH February 23, 1962
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH