When I’m not working as a researcher for the ARTT project (OK, and usually when I am at work, too) I’m an elections nerd. I don't just follow the polls, I pore over the cross-tabs, and do statistical modeling on the impact on the voting intentions of Taylor Swift’s cats (just joking).
But while I love the excitement of an election that shows democracy in action, I also know the importance and complexity of our electoral system can create a difficult environment for communicating complicated information. That’s why the ARTT team developed and launched ARTT-LEO, our curriculum to train local election officials on ARTT’s evidence-based communication strategies for understanding, connecting with, and informing voters about elections.
As I helped build out and deliver the ARTT-LEO curriculum, I’ve found myself applying some of its bigger picture lessons to my own conversations with friends, family, and even total strangers about not only elections, but the politics surrounding them.
Here are my four main takeaways from ARTT-LEO about how to navigate the mistrustful waters of today’s contentious political conversations:
ARTT-LEO’s emphasis on the importance of appealing to social norms and values – encouraging shared standards of behavior during discussion – in elections helped me realize that both elections and politics will always be contentious and complicated topics: elections deal with our most personal and collective values, identities, and visions for the future. These high, and highly personal stakes inevitably spark powerful emotions and unusually defensive and offensive attitudes.
Engaging in political conversations therefore requires we recognize and acknowledge just how difficult they can often be, while also ensuring your emotions don’t direct the conversation.
By acknowledging our emotions and establishing what my intentions for a conversation is in advance, as ARTT-LEO does with its Consider strategy, we can lower the stakes and the difficulty level of political conversations. One way to lower the stakes of a political conversation is to start out by intentionally setting an achievable goal, such as mutually and peacefully exchanging information, rather than assuming victory only when someone is won over to your point of view.
Acknowledging the personal nature and high difficulty of political conversations when we consider whether or not to engage also means giving ourselves grace when we’re not in a time or place where we can show up as the best communicators we can be. We can then bow out of political discourse when our well-being has to take priority.
Walking away from a discussion can be tough to do when it feels like, by not responding, we’re admitting defeat. But political conversations frequently deal with extremely complicated information, such as policies, programs, and fast-evolving situations, that we might feel we must respond to immediately.
I tell myself to not be afraid to acknowledge when I don’t know something, step away from the conversation to learn more before responding, and then return to the conversation when I think I‘m better informed about the situation.
Showing up as our best, most well-informed selves takes courage, but you, your needs, and the conversations you have deserve it!
ARTT-LEO’s emphasis on the importance of communication, even when it’s difficult to know how to engage or respond, reminds me of the importance of our conversations with others. Ultimately, political conversations provide powerful, unique opportunities to cross-pollinate our worldviews with different ideas and information, and even perspectives we might disagree with.
Practicing engagement with politics helps us flex and build our communication muscles, while continuing to create opportunities for potential change. The alternative is to slowly but surely turn the questions that could determine our collective future into taboo topics.
With these communication mindsets in mind, though, how do we go about building those communication muscles in practice, especially as Election Day in November draws near? Be sure to read the second part of this post, covering the core practices from the ARTT-LEO curriculum that I’ve found especially useful for engaging in political conversations.
We are looking forward to hearing your thoughts and feedback on this first version of the guidelines and we will continue to update you as the guidelines progress!
