Ballot designations
Tuesday
May 5, 2009
One of the more important decisions you will make is what to put on that little line under your name on the ballot. Some voters make up their minds when they are already in the voting booth and your name and occupation may be the only information they have in front of them. So, give some careful thought to how you list yourself on the ballot.
I have tested “Doctor,” “Attorney” and “College President” (among other designations) in polling for various campaigns and found that people reacted pretty negatively to all of those job titles, at least when it came to electing them to the particular office in question. I wasn’t too surprised to see lawyers rank poorly, but I was very surprised at how badly doctors and college presidents polled.
The occupational titles that score well will vary depending on the location and the type of office being sought. Districts with different voter demographics might show more positive results for these ballot titles. Public impressions of different occupations can even change from year to year.
If you can run a poll prior to filing for office, be sure to test your possible ballot designations. If you don’t have the funds to run a poll, you can look at general opinion polls that test attitudes toward various occupations. The problem with the general polls is that while people respect certain occupations, they may not feel that they would do well in a particular elected office. For example, doctors score near the top of the Harris Poll’s “Most Prestigious Occupations” survey and also score well in a Gallup Poll on the most “Honest and Ethical Professions” , but our campaign poll showed that in a particular district people with no other information about the candidate didn’t want to vote for the doctor. However, nationwide polls definitely give you some strong indications about how the public perceives different professions.
Obviously, you need to have a ballot designation that reflects what you actually do. A battle with your opponent over the validity of your occupational title will distract you and could bring some negative press attention. However, you frequently have options. For example, while “College President” scored poorly, “Educator” scored extremely well. An attorney might be an “Environmental Attorney” or an “Elder Law Attorney” which could score better than a plain “Attorney” in particular districts.
And, unless you are extremely well known, I would recommend against leaving the occupation line blank. My personal opinion is that people are a little suspicious of candidates who aren’t willing to be straightforward about their profession.
