Will "Brand Loyalty" Hold the Senate for the Democrats?

Image by Luke Shuman

With a number of tight Senate races around the country some are now contending that the political equivalent to brand loyalty may be what helps the Democrats fend off the GOP attempt to take control of the U.S. Senate.   Four races in particular - Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia and Louisiana - have Democrats running candidates from local state political dynasties where name recognition could make the difference with undecided voters.  Added to this is the better brand image the Democrats hold over the GOP brand best known for being the party of "no" and its reverse Robin Hood policies of stealing from the poor to give to the rich.  Here are highlights from a piece in the New York Times:

Three business school professors recently set out to discover what accounts for regional differences in product choices by consumers.

Although about 60 percent of it had to do with regional sales and marketing, a startling 40 percent stemmed from what they described in The American Economic Review as “persistent brand preferences.” Past experiences with the product or memories of family and friends using it shaped their buying decisions.

Democrats’ hopes of holding the Senate this fall rest significantly on the political equivalent of that “brand capital.” In four states that usually lean Republican, Democrats will be running candidates from families with multigenerational records of political success — the Pryors of Arkansas, the Landrieus of Louisiana, the Begiches of Alaska and the Nunns of Georgia. If at least two of the four legacy candidates can eke out victories, the Democrats’ chances of holding the Senate will be better than even.

Already, both parties are applying the lessons of brand loyalty from the corporate world. The Democratic candidates are going to great lengths to remind voters of the candidates’ political legacies.

[I]n an era when voters so often grow disenchanted with those they send to Washington, the easy familiarity of a political dynasty could tip a close race.

“It’s not trivial,” the Democratic pollster Mark Mellman said. “When you go to McDonald’s, you know what kind of hamburger you’re going to get. With a Landrieu or Pryor or Begich, you have some real idea of what you’re getting. And it’s something you like.”

National polls show the Democratic Party itself holds a brand advantage, with higher positive and lower negative ratings than Republicans. But political geography makes that broad measure mostly irrelevant to the fight for the Senate.

Democratic legacy candidates have not been shy about trying to offset their disadvantages by capitalizing on family reputations.

Matthew Gentzkow of the University of Chicago pointed to at least one factor that’s also relevant to political campaigns: the “stock of advertising exposure” that accumulates over the years for individual consumers.

For Republicans this year, it won’t be easy to take out Senator Landrieu, Senator Pryor or both. Counting their own campaigns as well as those of her brother and his father, the Landrieus and the Pryors have appeared on fall statewide ballots in 15 elections over the last 40 years.

None have lost yet.