Presidential campaigns and the news operations covering them routinely make use of focus groups to gather insights regarding campaign issues from small groups of potential voters. The 1988 presidential campaign of George Bush, for example, used a focus group to evaluate the effectiveness of using the Massachusetts furlough program as an issue against Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis, the state’s governor. On furlough from a Massachusetts prison, Willie Horton raped a woman and attacked her fiancé. Bush focus groups indicated that the furlough issue would play very well with a wide cross-section of voters. Subsequently, the Bush campaign made extremely effective use of the furlough issue to depict Dukakis as soft on crime.
Electronic news operations made use of focus groups to evaluate the effectiveness of candidates during and after presidential debates of the Campaign of 2000. Some news operations made use of dial group technology that permitted focus group participants to indicate their moment-to-moment reactions throughout the debate.
By the late 1990s, critics alleged that presidential campaigns had grown overly dependent on focus groups for developing campaign strategy, and news operations received criticism for relying too much on polls and focus groups to measure public reaction to presidential debates and other events.
Hunter, Pamela. “Using Focus Groups in Campaigns: A Caution.” Campaign and Elections, August 2000, p. 38.
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