US Politics: Gun control

Q. In a heavily gun-supporting state, how do you evidence that gun control could be a vote winner?

What we did?

We were asked to identify core issues for Virginia voters during the 2017 gubernatorial race. Virginia is inherently conservative – and it is the home state of the National Rifle Association (NRA), it is conventional wisdom that all candidates must have A-ratings from the NRA to have a chance of election.

We captured and analysed 76,000 original social media posts by candidates and voters between primary and election.

Key insights.

We were able to clearly identify and evidence that advocating for gun control would be a big vote winner, presenting low risk (apart from losing NRA funding). We showed that 93% of voters from all parties supported improved gun control - and evidenced an appetite for positive messaging and policy.

We also identified an issue unknown to the DNC campaign team: nearly a million VA residents have had their driving license suspended, and you need photo ID to vote. This became a campaign issue.