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Changing the Narrative
California Labor Coalition
June 2012
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What the Opposition Says about Us
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We don’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending
problem
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Government needs to get out of the way and let job creators do
what they do best
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Public employees are bankrupting our state
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Unions stifle competition and protect lazy workers. They had a
place once, but now there are laws to protect workers.
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How the Opposition has Branded
Our Issues
These messages “stick” in voters’ minds because the opposition
has mastered:
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Coordination
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Repetition
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Discipline
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The Opposition’s Branding Impacts
our Families
 Budget
cuts
 Pension
takeaways
 Regressive
taxes
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Changing the Narrative
We are ready to meet these challenges head-on, with
a new approach to:

Change how we talk about unions, taxes, and the investments
we need to create jobs.
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Move beyond the opposition’s attacks and put forward our own
plans to create jobs and improve opportunities for our families.
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Find the message that works…. and stick to it!
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Drew Westen, Ph.D.
Changing the Narrative Research
Drew Westen, Ph.D. is a psychologist, neuroscientist and professor at
Emory University. Building on current research about how the mind and
brain work, Westen researches the role of emotion in politics.
Westen and the California Labor Coalition have just completed a yearlong project to find the language and narratives that move people on
three key issues: tax fairness, investments vs. cuts, and unions.
Message Testing
Opinion Polling
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Takes the temperature of the
public right now
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Finds out where the public
could be
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Identifies winning arguments
campaign by campaign

Identifies specific language that
works against the opposition’s
branding over the long-term
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Different Goal, Different Approach
Traditional Approach
Goal: Win a single campaign
Research: Finds out where voters are now
Communications: Driven by single campaign
outcome
Westen Approach
Goal: Change attitudes over long term
Research: Identifies where voters could be
Communications: Bring voters along, campaign after
campaign, to long-term goal
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Methodology
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Representative sample of 888 California voters conducted in
Dec. 2011
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Online dial-tests and quantitative polling
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Voters hear opponents’ messages in their actual language,
followed by a progressive message
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When voters rate messages in real time, we see which of our
message are most effective in breaking through the
opposition’s branding
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Messages are then honed to find the most compelling specific
words, phrases, examples and values to counter our opponents
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Dial test: Tax Fairness
Californians should be working their way into the middle class, not falling out of
it. Over the last 30 years, the average middle class family saw their income
drop, while the richest 1 percent saw theirs go up by a million a year after taxes.
Big corporations are posting record profits, while our state’s families are
struggling just to get by. So I don't want to hear that we can't afford to pay
unemployment insurance to people who've lost their job through no fault of their
own, when nearly one out of eight Californians is looking for a job. I don't want
to hear that we need to lay off or furlough firefighters and teachers, leaving our
homes unprotected and preventing our kids from getting the first- class
education they’ll need to compete in the global economy. I don't want to hear
that over 60 percent of our bridges are structurally unsound while tens of
thousands of construction workers sit idle. It's time we ended special tax breaks
for millionaires and big corporations, and let big corporations know that if we
invent big ideas in California, we’re going to manufacture them here. It’s time
we put people back to work and started investing in California again.
Dial test: Tax Fairness
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Learning from Dial Tests
Californians should be working their way into the middle class, not falling out of
it. Over the last 30 years, the average middle class family saw their income
drop, while the richest 1 percent saw theirs go up by a million a year after
taxes. Big corporations are posting record profits, while our state’s families
are struggling just to get by. So I don't want to hear that we can't afford to pay
unemployment insurance to people who've lost their job through no fault of
their own, when nearly one out of eight Californians is looking for a job. I don't
want to hear that we need to lay off or furlough firefighters and teachers,
leaving our homes unprotected and preventing our kids from getting the firstclass education they’ll need to compete in the global economy. I don't want to
hear that over 60 percent of our bridges are structurally unsound while tens of
thousands of construction workers sit idle. It's time we ended special tax breaks
for millionaires and big corporations, and let big corporations know that if we
invent big ideas in California, we’re going to manufacture them here. It’s time
we put people back to work and started investing in California again.
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Changing the Narrative
What we learned:
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Voters in the middle can be
persuaded. They key is to
speak to them in clear, valuesbased language.
Narratives are how we tell our
story in a way that connects
with ordinary people.
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Pithy, populist messages break
through even the toughest, wellbranded statements from the
opposition on tax, union and
public employee messages.
Talking points are key words
and phrases that “stick” in the
minds of people who hear
them.

“Kitchen Table” language
consists of words everyday
people use and relate to.
Repetition of these winning
phrases is essential.
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Changing the Narrative:
Tax Fairness
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Key Points: Tax Fairness
 Connect
Fairness
to voters’ sense of
fairness
 Raise
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concern about inequality
(Corporations and CEOs vs.
everyone else)
 Point
to solutions that protect
the middle-class and hold
corporations accountable
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Message Framework
Tax Fairness
1.Play by the same rules
We learned as kids that we
should all pitch in for things we
all use. It’s about time the rich
and big corporations started
Our tax code needs to reflect living by the same rules as the
the interests of middle-class rest of us and pay their fair
Californians, not the special share.
interests of corporate CEOs
and their lobbyists.
2. Protect the middle class
3. Put corporate tax breaks to
the jobs test
Corporations say tax breaks will
create jobs here at home, so if
they ship jobs overseas, their tax
breaks should disappear.
It’s time the middle-class and
small businesses stop picking up
the tab while the rich and big
corporations get special
loopholes, carve-outs and tax
dodges the rest of us don’t get.
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Using Narratives to Tell Our Side of
the Story
Tax Fairness
Opposition Message:
California is already over-taxed and over-regulated. But rather than cut bloated government spending,
politicians want to raise billions more in taxes, which will force more companies to leave the state and
take jobs with them.
Connect
Raise Concern
End with Hope
No one likes paying taxes, but we all have
to chip in. The problem is that corporations
and the wealthy have been getting a free
ride at our expense.
Still, CEOs want more and more special
tax carve-outs even though corporations
haven’t delivered on job creation.
The Governor’s revenue initiative asks the
richest to pay their fair share for schools
and public safety while protecting the
middle-class and the poor.
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Changing the Narrative:
Cutting vs. Investing
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Key Points: Cuts vs. Investment
 Connect
Waste =
Corporate
Tax
Breaks
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to voters values of hard
work and opportunity
 Reframe
the opposition’s attacks
on “waste” ---We have a choice: invest in CA or
give more wasteful tax breaks to
the wealthy and corporations
 Point
to investments that make
for a stronger California in the
future
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Message Framework
1.Put Californians Back to Work
Cutting vs. Investing
We can pay for employment or we can
pay for unemployment.
It’s time California
worked again for people
who work for a living.
The way to grow our economy
and create good jobs is to
invest in California again.
3. Make California competitive with an
educated, innovative workforce
We shouldn’t cut education when we
know that countries that out-educate us
today will out-compete us tomorrow.
Invest in the workers of the future – our
kids -- by giving them the schools and
colleges that create an educated,
innovative workforce.
Put Californians back to work
rebuilding the roads, bridges, and
world-class infrastructure that make
California a good place to do business.
2. Choose to Invest in California
We have a choice: we can invest in our
kids and our future or we can keep
giving big tax breaks to corporations
that ship our jobs overseas and to the
wealthiest 1%, who are taking home
more and paying less than at any point
in decades.
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Using Narratives to Tell Our Side of
the Story
Cutting vs. Investing
Opposition Message:
No one wants to cut education but with the state budget deficit so large, our schools need to learn to
do more with less.
Connect
Raise Concern
End with Hope
We can’t settle for anything but the best in
our schools because our competitors in
China, Japan, and India aren’t settling
either.
Cuts to education have made California
classrooms the most overcrowded in the
country.
We can protect our kids’ future and make
sure California has the most skilled workers
in the world by rolling back wasteful tax
breaks.
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Changing the Narrative:
Unions
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Key Points: Unions
 Connect
Populism
unions to the American
Dream – yesterday, today, and
tomorrow
 Tap
into concern over the
disappearing middle-class
 Educate
voters about unions’ roles
as champions for all workers and
a better future for all our families
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Message Framework
Unions
1. Unions helped build the American
Dream
Californians who work for a
living deserve good
American wages and
benefits for a hard day’s
work.
Our grandparents and their unions
fought hard for our ability to feed our
families, pay our rent or mortgages, and
know our kids will have a good education
and a shot at a better life. That’s the
American Dream.
3. Unions are fighting for what’s best
for all of us
Today, unions are the voice of
California’s working people, fighting for
what’s best for all of us like quality public
schools and jobs in our communities.
With unions on our side, we can take on
corporate power and greed.
2. Unions stand up for the middleclass
Corporations and Wall Street bankers
are systematically dismantling the
middle-class. The only thing that
stands in their way now is working
people standing together in their unions.
+ Using Narratives to Tell Our Side of
the Story
Unions
Opposition Message:
"Labor has asked for too much and business people have [acceded to] their demands only to see the
business ultimately fail. That's what happened to GM and Chrysler. The demands of labor unions over
time killed those businesses and made America become less competitive.” - Mitt Romney
Connect
Raise Concern
End with Hope
The American middle-class was built by our
grandparents whose hard work made companies
profitable, and by unions who made sure workers
shared in America’s success.
Now corporations and Wall Street bankers are
dismantling the middle class we’ve built, tearing
down workers and their unions so CEOs can take a
larger share of the pie.
Today, working people standing together is still the
way to protect the American Dream. Unions are
leading the way in training workers for new jobs and
helping businesses stay competitive in the global
economy.
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Using Narratives to Tell Our Side of
the Story
Public Employees
Opposition Message:
Public employees use the special interest power of their unions to secure bloated pensions, high
salaries and benefits the rest of us don’t get even if it means more cuts to our kids’ education.
Connect
The problem isn’t that the people who educate our kids
or care for our aging parents can count on $25,000 a
year in retirement because they have unions looking
out for them, it’s that the rest of us don’t.
Raise Concern
If no one’s negotiating for the working families of
California, we already know what CEOs will do:
negotiate themselves a sweeter deal.
End with Hope
The best way to solve our budget problem isn’t to wipe
out the retirement plans of people who’ve been paying
into them for 30 years, it’s to put Californians back to
work.
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Public Employees
Give a vivid description of who workers are and what they
contribute. Examples:
 Teachers
who inspire and challenge our kids
 Police
officers and firefighters who put their
lives on the line
 Sanitation
workers who pick up our trash so we
don’t have to drive to the dump
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Changing the Narrative
California Labor Coalition
June 2012
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“Invest in California”
California Labor’s Jobs Plan
“It is time California worked
again for people who work
for a living, not just those
who can buy tax loopholes
in Sacramento. It is time to
return to the policies of
shared success that made
the state great, so that the
Golden State can be what it
always has been: a place
where
Californians
are
working their way into the
middle class, not falling out
of it.”
- Art Pulaski &
Bob Balgenorth
1.
Build the California of the Future:
Infrastructure
2.
Make It Here, Buy It Here:
Manufacturing
3.
Innovation and Skills Training
for the Future: Education
4.
Invest in California: Revenue
5.
A Strong Economy
Through Clean Energy
6.
Good Jobs Now:
Ending Income Inequality
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If this measure doesn’t pass,
there will be $5 billion in
automatic cuts to schools. If these
cuts go through, the school year
will be shortened, more teachers
will be laid off and class sizes will
continue to grow. You just don't
cut education when you know
that countries that out-educate
us today will out-compete us
tomorrow.
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The wealthy should pay their fair
share to fund education and
public safety. We learned in
kindergarten that we should all
pitch in for things we all use.
It's about time the wealthy
started living by the same rules
as the rest of us.
Governor’s
Tax Initiative
example