Changing Minds In The Mayoral Vote: POTTER

By Evan Potter

There is a famous political commercial from the 1972 U.S. presidential campaign called the “Voting Booth” that I show to students in my political communication courses.

The ad focuses on an ordinary U.S. voter standing alone and about to cast his vote. We hear his inner monologue as he wrestles with a choice between President Richard Nixon and Democratic challenger George McGovern. It is instructive to read the entire script for this ad, which was produced for the McGovern campaign, to appreciate the process some voters go through when deciding to vote for a candidate they had perhaps not intended to choose: