Section 508 Remediated. 10/13/2016-mw
To: Interested Parties
From: United States Postal Service®
Date: September 30, 2016
Survey Findings Highlight Political Mail’s
Persuasive & Motivating Impact on Voters:
Direct Mail Tops TV, Digital Ads in Helping
Swing Voters Make Decisions
In the heat of this election year, campaigns are looking to break through the clutter and deliver key
information to their targeted voters that will drive action. They are looking to persuade the remaining
swing voters, lock in their support as early as possible, and cultivate a relationship with younger voters
to form a lifelong connection to their party and candidates.
USPS® recently conducted a survey to see what role political mail can play in all these
eorts.
1
There are three key findings significant to campaigns from this survey:
1
Swing voters are more likely to
rate political mail as helpful than
TV or digital ads.
While those who are undecided or only considering
a candidate may be unsure whom they will vote
for in November (or earlier)—the majority of swing
voters surveyed are very willing to read political
mail and view it as important to their voting
decisions this election.
2
Interest in early voting is notably high,
but the majority of voters do not know
the relevant deadlines and would look
to political mail for answers.
Almost a third of those surveyed are considering
voting early, but the vast majority of survey
respondents are unaware of early voting options.
Political mail rates highly as a key source for filling
this information gap.
3
A majority of millennials have been living
at the same address long enough—and
checking their mailbox frequently enough
—to be good targets for political mail.
The survey found that most millennials have
remained at their current address for the last four
years and regularly check their mail.
They are anchored enough to be good political
mail targets. While many assume millennials are
addicted to their mobile phones, they value and
use political mail at levels near or above other
outreach tactics, including digital ads.
See greater detail on these three areas
below. For more information, please go
to DeliverTheWin.com
1
On behalf of the USPS®, Summit Research conducted this online survey (August 11-22, 2016) among a national sample of 1,398 adults. Data are
weighted to Census-level targets for gender, region, race, age, education, and income. The full survey sample also includes an oversample of millennials
(n=699) that were weighted to Census-level targets for gender, age, race, education/gender, and marital status. Additional questions were used to
screen for registered, likely, and swing voters.
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Survey Findings Highlight Political Mail’s Persuasive & Motivating Impact on Voters
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1
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2
1
Swing Voters
are persuaded and
motivated by political mail.
Swing voters may be indecisive in
their candidate selection—but they
largely agree political mail is a useful
outreach tactic.
Just under a third of registered voters
can be identified as swing voters for
the presidential race.
In a question about how certain voters are about
their choice for the presidential race, the majority
of registered voters surveyed are already certain of
their presidential vote (68%) but the rest are either
undecided (14%) or might change their mind (18%).
Thinking of this year’s election for U.S.
President, which statement best reflects
your opinion?
I know who I am
voting for and
I will not change
my mind
I think I know who
I am voting for
but I might
change my mind
I am currently
undecided
68%
18% 14%
(Percentage of registered voters)
A large majority of swing voters
will read political mail.
When asked what they would do after receiving
a piece of political campaign mail, 54% of swing
voters surveyed would read it immediately and
24% would save to read later.
Many swing voters have yet
to come across political mail.
A majority of swing voters surveyed have come
across ads from TV (80% have seen), online (61%)
and radio (54%) this election season. However,
only 48% have come across political mail.
The fact that swing voters have not come across
political mail as frequently as other campaign
tactics presents campaigns a golden opportunity
to engage with voters in a way that stands out.
At this time in the election year, how
often have you seen political ads from
the following sources?
At least daily to a couple times a month:
20406080 0
20%
34%
45%
48%
54%
61%
80%
TV ads
Online ads
Radio ads
Direct mail sent
to my home
Phone calls to
my home
Visits to my home
from campaign
volunteers or sta
Emails sent
to me
(Percentage of swing voters)
More swing voters rate political mail as
helpful than they do TV or digital ads.
Almost six in ten swing voters (58%) ranked political
mail as very or somewhat helpful in informing
their voting decision, topping all other types of
political ads. Most notably, political mail held a slight
advantage over TV ads (55%) and holds a larger
advantage over online ads (48%), and emails (46%).
68%
18% 14%
20406080 0
20%
34%
45%
48%
54%
61%
80%
80 60 40 20 0
80 60 40 20 0
67%
65%
52%
50%
38%
34%
59%
59%
24%
22%
67%
62%
62%
59%
54%
45%
41%
68%
18% 14%
20406080 0
60 40 20 0
20%
34%
45%
48%
54%
61%
80%
80 60 40 20 0
55%
58%
48%
43%
28%
21%
46%
59%
24%
22%
67%
62%
62%
59%
54%
45%
41%
3
(Percentage
of swing voters)
TV ads
Online ads
Radio ads
Direct mail sent
to my home
Phone calls to
my home
Visits to my home
from campaign
volunteers or sta
Emails sent
to me
80 60 40 20 0
67%
65%
52%
50%
38%
34%
59%
At this time in the election year, how helpful
are the following types of political ads in
helping you make your voting decision?
Very helpful or somewhat helpful:
(Percentage
of swing voters)
TV ads
Online ads
Radio ads
Direct mail sent
to my home
Phone calls to
my home
Visits to my home
from campaign
volunteers or sta
Emails sent
to me
60 40 20 0
55%
58%
48%
43%
28%
21%
46%
2
Political mail can
educate and activate
potential early voters to
register and vote.
As campaigns look to secure support
with early voting, most of the electorate
is largely unaware of early voting options.
However, political mail is one of the most
eective ways to fill in this knowledge gap.
The vast majority of likely and swing voters
are uncertain of the last date to apply for an
absentee ballot or the earliest date to vote early.
When asked to guess the last possible date to
apply for an absentee ballot, 80% of likely voters
surveyed and 84% of swing voters selected “I
don’t know.” Guessing at when they can start
early voting, 68% of likely voters and 75% of swing
voters selected “I don’t know.”
Political mail is the leading outreach tactic for
educating voters on their early voting options.
For informing likely voters of their options and
the deadlines for early voting, political mail is
very or pretty useful (67%) ahead of TV (65%)
email (59%) and online ads (52%).
Very useful or pretty useful:
If political campaigns want to inform you
about your options and deadlines for voting
early in your state, how useful would you
find the following sources?
A significant portion of likely voters
are at least considering voting early.
Just under a third of likely voters surveyed are
at least con-sidering voting early (64% plan to
vote on Election Day, 27% early in-person or
with mail, 9% unsure).
Voters surveyed found direct mail more
useful overall than other media to learn
about voter registration deadlines.
Nearly two-in-three likely voters (68%) say “direct mail
sent to my home” is a helpful source of information
about registering to vote in your state, rating it either
“very useful” or “pretty useful,” compared to ads on
TV (65%), online (52%) and radio (50%).
68%
18% 14%
20406080 0
60 40 20 0
20%
34%
45%
48%
54%
61%
80%
80 60 40 20 0
55%
58%
48%
43%
28%
21%
46%
67%
65%
52%
50%
38%
34%
59%
59%
24%
22%
4
3
Millennial voters are great
targets for political mail.
While millennials are more mobile than
older generations, contrary to popular
belief, they are still suciently anchored
to be targeted by political mail. Not only
is it possible to target the millennial voter
by political mail, but also this is one of the
most influential ways a political campaign
can reach millennials.
For political information, the millennial
generation puts political mail and digital
ads on equal footing.
Both online ads and political mail are seen as
useful in voting decisions to a large majority of
millennials surveyed (62%), just behind TV ads
(67%) and just ahead of email (59%).
How helpful are the following types of political
ads in helping you make your voting decision?
Very helpful to somewhat helpful:
TV ads
Online ads
Radio ads
Direct mail sent
to my home
Phone calls to
my home
Visits to my home
from campaign
volunteers or sta
Emails sent
to me
80 60 40 20 0
67%
62%
62%
59%
54%
45%
41%
(Percentage of millennial voters)
More than half (51%) of millennials have stayed
at the same address for the last 4 years.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, the majority of
millennials are living in the same homes they lived
in during recent elections. Over half of millennials
surveyed (51%) claimed that they have not moved
for at least the last 4 years. Additionally, 91% will
be living at the same address that is on their voter
registration on Election Day.
Millennials frequently check their
mailbox and read political mail.
Nearly four in five millennials surveyed (79%)
check their mail-box at least five times a week,
with 66% daily. Most are likely to read political mail
immediately (52%), with more than a quarter saving
it to read later (26%). They are even more likely to
read mail about voting deadlines (60% immediately,
30% save for later).
Political mail can also help bring
unregistered millennials to the voter rolls.
Millennials have lower rates of voter registration
and results from our survey reflect this.
For learning of registration dates, millennials
surveyed see political mail as useful (62% very
or pretty useful)—in line with other key outreach
tactics like TV ads (64%) and email (60%).
With a saturated and competitive
political advertising environment during
the final months of the 2016 election
cycle, campaigns are in a constant quest
to identify the right mix of campaign
outreach to persuade and motivate voters.
As reinforced by this survey, political
mail continues to be an impactful and
indispensable communications tool for
campaigns of all sizes.
For more information, please go to DeliverTheWin.com