Frank Luntz

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Luntz in 2009.

Frank Luntz (born February 23, 1962 in West Hartford ) is an American pollster and political advisor to the Republicans . He became known to a large public in particular through a memo in which he developed a detailed strategy for how the Republicans should dispute the scientific findings on man-made global warming .

Life

Frank Luntz earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and political science from the University of Pennsylvania and then a doctorate in political science from Oxford University . Luntz is known as a leading pollster and advisor to various Conservative and Republican candidates (notably Newt Gingrich , Rudolph Giuliani , Michael Bloomberg , Silvio Berlusconi , the British Tories , Ross Perot , Pat Buchanan and George W. Bush ) as well as large corporations. In 1992 he founded the Luntz Research Companies .

He mainly works with focus groups to discover political topics, assess the reactions of citizens and draft catchy messages for business and politics. One focus of his work is the elaboration of discursive tactics. He found out that "tax relief" (English tax relief) is better received than "tax cuts" (English tax cuts). On behalf of the Republicans, he also developed the strategy to present the planned substantial reduction in Medicare by $ 270 billion as a Medicare rescue ("save Medicare").

Among other things, he also worked for the Koch brothers , for whom he developed discussion strategies, and was the source of ideas who recommended the Republican Party to reinterpret the inheritance tax as a "death tax". He is also said to have been the one who convinced the Trump administration to speak of "border security" in order to gain support for Donald Trump's wall construction plans.

Climate change denial

Luntz is best known for an internal memo from 2002 in which he summed up the strategy of organized denial of man-made climate change . In this internal strategy statement of the Republican party, which later became publicly known through a leak, he warned the Republican party that it had almost lost the debate on environmental issues. He then advised her to step up efforts to deny the scientific consensus on global warming:

" The scientific debate is closing [against those who deny the reality of climate change] 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. "

Frank Luntz 2002:

“ The scientific debate is closing [on those who deny the reality of climate change] but it is not yet closed. There is still a chance to question science. [...] Voters believe that there is no consensus on global warming within the scientific community. Should the public come to the conclusion that the scientific questions have been resolved, then their views on global warming will change accordingly. "

He therefore recommended pointing out uncertainties in scientific research.

" Continue to make the lack of scientific certainty a primary issue in the debate [...]. emphasize the importance of 'acting only with all the facts [...] The most important principle is your commitment to sound science "

Frank Luntz 2002:

“ Continue to make the lack of scientific certainty a key issue in the debate [...] stresses the importance of not acting until all the facts are [known]. [...] The most important principle is your commitment to solid science "

The term "sound science" is actually a code word used by many denial organizations, which is supposed to suggest objectivity, but is actually mostly misused for anti-scientific purposes. The core motive of this argumentation model is that scientific findings can only be of relevance for politics if they can provide absolute certainty. Such an assumption is diametrically opposed to the actual way scientific research works.

Luntz also recommended using the term "climate change" instead of "global warming", since climate change sounds more harmless than global warming. While "global warming" in its connotations indicates something catastrophic, climate change would rather indicate "a more manageable and less emotional challenge".

In 2019, in a hearing before the US Senate , he admitted that he had been wrong in his statements on climate change and urged politicians not to heed the advice he gave at the time. He also promised to help the Democrats in the Climate Committee, provided that they acted in a non-partisan manner and thus did not pursue party politics.

Works

  • Candidates, Consultants, and Campaigns: The Style and Substance of American Electioneering , New York: Blackwell, 1988.
  • Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear , New York: Hyperion , 2007.
  • , What Americans Really Want ... Really , New York: Hyperion, 2009.
  • The Israel Project's 2009 GLOBAL LANGUAGE DICTIONARY , second edition (after 2003)
  • Win: The Key Principles to Take Your Business from Ordinary to Extraordinary , New York: Hyperion, 2011.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from December 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ a b Gerald Sussman, Global Electioneering , 2005, ISBN 0-7425-2691-7 , p. 82
  3. ↑ a b Frank Luntz, the GOP's message master, calls for climate action . In: Grist , July 25, 2019. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
  4. ↑ Oliver Burkeman: Memo exposes Bush's new green strategy. In: The Guardian. Guardian News & Media Ltd., March 4, 2003, accessed May 27, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Michael E. Mann , The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars . Columbia University Press, 2012, pp. 22f.
  6. ↑ Quoted from: Michael E. Mann , The Hockey-Stick and the Climate Wars . Columbia University Press, 2012, p. 22.
  7. ↑ Quoted from: James Lawrence Powell: The Inquisition of Climate Science . New York 2012, p. 174.
  8. ^ Haydn Washington, John Cook: Climate Change Denial. Heads in the sand . Earthscan 2011, p. 73.
  9. ↑ Michael E. Mann , The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars . Columbia University Press, 2012, pp. 60f.
  10. ↑ James Lawrence Powell: The Inquisition of Climate Science . New York 2012, p. 175.
  11. ↑ The Israel Project's 2009 GLOBAL LANGUAGE DICTIONARY PDF
personal data
SURNAME Luntz, Frank
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American pollster and political advisor
DATE OF BIRTH February 23, 1962
PLACE OF BIRTH West Hartford