Cyborg politics

Ad deconstruction, week three: inside the circuitry of the Liberal machine

by PHILIP PREVILLE

When most people think about polls, they usually think about basic voter-support numbers--who's leading, who's trailing and so on. But polling also tells the parties which issues are and are not important, as well as what people actually think about those issues. And governments use polls to make sure that, regardless of what they actually do, their party lines up with the numbers.

It's a phenomenon that can be called "cyborg politics": the politicians seem like humans, but their words and actions are directed by the scientific polling machine. And the Liberals are the ultimate cybernetic political organism: they have been airing ads which make them seem human, but have actually been churned out through the far end of Deep Blue.

"But what is leadership about? It's about reducing the deficit by more than $25 billion."

Curious. At the very start of the campaign, a CBC-Environics poll showed that "political leadership" placed last out of six issues, while the deficit ranked number three (jobs topped the list). But polling also shows that the deficit is a divisive issue because it reminds people about the gutting of social programs. Polls also show that, if you ask a blandly unspecific question such as "Is the government on the right track in terms of the overall direction in which they are leading the country?" the Liberals always get a 60 per cent approval rating.

The pollster's solution: merge "political leadership" and "the deficit" into a single issue. Don't talk about which programs you actually cut; don't talk about the fact that the national debt (the accumulation of previous annual deficits) still totals in the hundreds of billions of dollars. And even though you always said you were cutting the deficit because the country was bankrupt and you had no choice, make it sound as though you always meant to do it, and you're proud of it.

"It's about strengthening our health care."

In that same CBC-Environics poll, health care finished fifth out of six issues: only 4 per cent of Canadians said it was the most important issue of the campaign. But polls also show that health care is one of those issues that touch people on an emotional level--Canadians often cite Medicare as a defining element of national identity. In the pollster's lexicon, health care is a "hot button" issue: people don't really care about it, but if you mention it, you'll get a rise out of them.

Polls also show that people see health care as a left-of-centre issue and that Canadians still see the Liberals as a left-of-centre party despite their right-wing government record. Hence, Canadians are more likely to trust the Liberals with the task of preserving health care--even though the Liberals cut $40 billion in health-care transfer payments to the provinces. In polling, image matters more than substance; this ad feeds a perception that, based on the Liberal record, should have long since been laid to rest.

"It's about the lowest interest rates in 35 years."

Both Reform and the Tories are promising tax cuts, even though polls show that a tax cut is not considered a credible promise. Taxes did not even make the list of the top six issues in the CBC-Environics poll. This only goes to show that, compared to Jean Chrétien, Preston Manning and Jean Charest are poorly manufactured cyborgs with a great deal of faulty wiring and bad circuitry.

But polls also show that Canadians do think their taxes are too high; as such, taxes could become a "hot-button" issue (certainly Manning and Charest are hoping that it will). And anyway, it's never a bad idea to tell people that you've put money into their pockets. Hence, Chrétien explains over top of piped-in crowd noise and cheering that lower interest rates have saved the average homeowner $8,000 in mortgage payments. Chrétien makes lower interest rates sound like a tax cut, even though it has nothing whatsoever to do with taxation.

"It's about uniting our country."

National unity is the ultimate polling issue: the country is deeply divided over distinct society status for Quebec, which means that any specific solution which the Liberals offer will result in a loss of support. So Chrétien promises nothing, except that he will try really hard: "As your prime minister," he says, "I will do everything within my power and within the power of your government to keep Canada together." He even takes his jacket off to say it, a symbol of just how hard he intends to work.

The shirtsleeves thing may seem like a minor detail, but it actually symbolizes all that is frightening about cyborg politics: he only takes his jacket off when the numbers tell him to. Supporters of polling insist that, through polls, we express our true opinions and get better government as a result. But for each of these issues--the deficit, health care, tax cuts, national unity--the polls only reveal widespread division and contradiction. What do politicians do with such conundrums? Survey says: mouth a series of vague platitudes, and take your jacket off to look like you really mean it.