Frank Luntz

Frank Luntz
Frank Luntz at the 2009 Texas Book Festival
Born	February 23, 1962 (1962-02-23) (age 49)
Nationality	American
Education	University of Pennsylvania Oxford University
Occupation	Communication Consultant and Political Pollster

Frank I. Luntz (born February 23, 1962) is an American political consultant and pollster.^[1] His most recent work has been with the Fox News Channel as a frequent commentator and analyst, as well as 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.”^[2] He is also an author of business books dealing with communication strategies and public opinion. Luntz's current company, Luntz Global, LLC, specializes in message creation and image management for commercial and political clients.

Background

Luntz grew up in West Hartford, Connecticut, and graduated from Hall High School. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania and received his Doctorate in Politics from Oxford University. He is unmarried.^[3]

Luntz has appeared as a consultant or panel member on a number of television news shows, including The Colbert Report, Capital Gang, Good Morning America, Hannity, Hardball with Chris Matthews, Meet the Press, PBS NewsHour, Nightline, The O'Reilly Factor, Real Time With Bill Maher, and The Today Show. He has written op-eds for publications such as The Financial Times, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.

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

Use of language

Luntz frequently tests word and phrase choices using focus groups and interviews. His stated purpose in this is the goal of causing audiences to react based on emotion. "80 percent of our life is emotion, and only 20 percent is intellect. I am much more interested in how you feel than how you think." "If I respond to you quietly, the viewer at home is going to have a different reaction than if I respond to you with emotion and with passion and I wave my arms around. Somebody like this is an intellectual; somebody like this is a freak."^[2]

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.... 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."^[4]

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."^[5]

Luntz description of "Orwellian" is considered to contradict both its popularly defined meaning as well as that defined by George Orwell. Luntz believes that Orwell would not have approved of many of the uses to which his pseudonym is applied by quoting Orwell's essay "Politics and the English Language", where Luntz focuses on how Orwell derides the use of cliché and dying metaphors.^{[citation needed]}

Luntz' description of his job revolves around exploiting the emotional content of language. "It's all emotion. But there's nothing wrong with emotion. When we are in love, we are not rational; we are emotional." "...my job is to look for the words that trigger the emotion." "We know that words and emotion together are the most powerful force known to mankind.."^[2]

Additionally in his January 9, 2007, interview on Fresh Air, Luntz 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?"^[5]

James L. Martin, chairman of the conservative 60 Plus Association, described Luntz's role as being that of pollster and popularizer of the phrase "death tax".

Martin gained an important ally in GOP pollster Frank Luntz, whose polling revealed that "death tax" sparked voter resentment in a way that "inheritance tax" and "estate tax" couldn't match. After all, who wouldn't be opposed to a "tax on death"? Luntz shared his findings with Republicans and included the phrase in the GOP's Contract with America. Luntz went so far as to recommend in a memo to GOP lawmakers that they stage press conferences "at your local mortuary" to dramatize the issue. "I believe this backdrop will clearly resonate with your constituents," he wrote. "Death is something the American people understand." Apparently, he's right. Spurred by Luntz, Republicans have employed the term "death tax" so aggressively that it has entered the popular lexicon. Nonpartisan venues like newspapers and magazines have begun to use it in a neutral context--a coup for abolitionists like Martin.^[6]

Publications

Luntz is the author of the 2007 New York Times Best Seller "Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear." His second book, "What Americans Really Want ... Really: The Truth About Our Hopes, Dreams and Fears," climbed to #6 on the New York Times Business Best Sellers list. In March 2011, Luntz released his book "Win: The Key Principles to Take Your Business From Ordinary to Extraordinary".

Representative work

Global warming

Although Luntz later tried to distance himself from the Bush administration policy, it was his idea that administration communications reframe "global warming" as "climate change" since "climate change" was thought to sound less severe. Luntz has since said that he is not responsible for what the Bush administration did after 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.^[7]

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."^[8]

In 2010, Luntz announced new research that shows the American people are eager for Congress to act on climate legislation that would promote energy independence and a healthier environment. "Americans want their leaders to act on climate change – but not necessarily for the reasons you think," Luntz said. "A clear majority of Americans believe climate change is happening. This is true of McCain voters and Obama voters alike. And even those that don't still believe it is essential for America to pursue policies that promote energy independence and a cleaner, healthier environment." In reference to recent political events, Luntz added: "People are much more interested in seeing solutions than watching yet another partisan political argument." ^[9]

2005 UK Conservative leadership election

In 2005 Luntz conducted a focus group broadcast 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.^[10] In March 2007, Newsnight invited him back to gauge comparative opinions on Cameron, Gordon Brown and Sir Menzies Campbell in the city of Birmingham.

2007 Irish general elections

Luntz led a focus group telecast with the Irish state broadcaster RTE to gather the opinions of the Irish people before the May 24, 2007 general elections. RTÉ hoped to show viewers some of the campaign techniques the political parties were using without their knowledge.^[11]

2007 Australian federal election

Another focus group of swing voters was analysed by Luntz in the lead-up to the November 2007 poll between the ruling Coalition and the opposition Labor party. Luntz noted that, 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; and that unlike the lead-up to the Irish elections, Australia had a stronger and more popular opposition 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.^[12]

2010 UK General Election

During the 2010 UK General Election, Luntz led focus groups during the Prime Ministerial debates between Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg, and wrote about his findings for the Sun newspaper,^[13] and also appeared on the BBCs Daily Politics.

Criticism

Despite Luntz not even being a member of AAPOR, 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, said

“

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.[14]

”

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.^[15][16]

Luntz was awarded the 2010 PolitiFact Lie of the Year award for his promotion of the phrase 'government takeover' to refer to healthcare reform, starting in the spring of 2009. "'Takeovers are like coups,' Luntz wrote in a 28-page memo. 'They both lead to dictators and a loss of freedom.'"^[17] In an editorial response, the Wall Street Journal wrote that "PolitiFact's decree is part of a larger journalistic trend that seeks to recast all political debates as matters of lies, misinformation and 'facts,' rather than differences of world view or principles." "We have concluded it is inaccurate to call the plan a government takeover," the editors of PolitiFact announced.^[18]

Bibliography

• Luntz, Frank. Candidates, Consultants, and Campaigns: The Style and Substance of American Electioneering. New York: Blackwell, 1988.
• Luntz, Frank. Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear New York: Hyperion, 2007.
• Luntz, Frank. What Americans Really Want...Really New York: Hyperion, 2009.
• Luntz, Frank. Win: The Key Principles to Take Your Business from Ordinary to Extraordinary New York: Hyperion, 2011.

References

1. ^ http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=130628F1-18FE-70B2-A81BBE8E2316F81D
2. ^ ^{a b c} "Interview Frank Luntz". PBS Frontline. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/interviews/luntz.html. Retrieved 2007-03-23. 
3. ^ Solomon, Deborah (21 May 2009). "Questions for Frank Luntz: The Wordsmith". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/magazine/24wwln-q4-t.html. Retrieved 17 August 2011. 
4. ^ Lemann, Nicholas (October 16, 2000). "The Word Lab: The mad Science Behind What the Candidates Say". The New Yorker 
5. ^ ^{a b} Fresh Air with Terry Gross, Frank Luntz Explains 'Words That Work', January 9, 2007. Retrieved June 28, 2007.
6. ^ Joshua Green "Meet Mr. Death", The American Prospect, May 20, 2001
7. ^ "Climate chaos: Bush's climate of fear" (TV Programme). UK: BBC. 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/5005994.stm. 
8. ^ Burkeman, Oliver (2003-03-04). "Memo exposes Bush's new green strategy". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2003/mar/04/usnews.climatechange. Retrieved 2011-01-12. 
9. ^ [1]
10. ^ "How a celebrity pollster created Cameron" by Nick Cohen, The Observer, 10 December 2006
11. ^ "The Luntz Effect". Irish Election. 2006-12-10. http://www.irishelection.com/12/the-luntz-effect/. 
12. ^ Voters may return to Howard The Australian
13. ^ "Sun dial tells who shone". The Sun (London). April 16, 2010. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/election2010/2934852/US-pollster-uses-Instant-Response-method-to-rate-politicians-debate.html. 
14. ^ Chinni, Dante (2000-05-26). "Why should we trust this man?". Salon.com. http://dir.salon.com/story/politics/feature/2000/05/26/luntz/index.html?pn=1. Retrieved 2007-09-30. 
15. ^ Morin, Richard (2000-08-28). "Famous for 15 Minutes". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/polls/wat/archive/wat082800.htm. Retrieved 2007-09-30. 
16. ^ Luntz not appearing in Dem Forum Media Matters June 27, 2007
17. ^ PolitiFact's Lie of the Year: 'A government takeover of health care', by Bill Adair, Angie Drobnic Holan, PolitiFact, December 16, 2010
18. ^ PolitiFiction (editorial), The Wall Street Journal, December 23, 2010

External links

• Official Facebook Page
• Luntz Global, Luntz's communications company
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Frank Luntz on Charlie Rose
• Frank Luntz collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Works by or about Frank Luntz in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Frank Luntz at SourceWatch
• Frank Luntz profile on NOW on PBS
• Interview: Frank Luntz on The Persuaders, PBS Frontline, November 9, 2004
• Frank Luntz Accepts Global Warming Science, TreeHugger.com, June 19, 2006
• Frank Luntz Explains 'Words That Work', NPR Fresh Air, January 9, 2007
• How to speak Republican, interview with Katharine Mieskowski, Salon.com, January 23, 2007
• Frank Luntz Rides Again, Trudy Lieberman, Columbia Journalism Review, December 10, 2010

Persondata
Name	Luntz, Frank
Alternative names
Short description	American political consultant, author, and pollster
Date of birth	February 23, 1962
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death