Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear

by Frank Luntz

I also tested three different ways of describing how Medicare spending would increase under the Republican plan: 1. Medicare spending would increase from $178 billion to $250 billion over six years (what I called the “billions to billions” approach). 2. Medicare spending would increase by 6.4 percent a year, every year, for six years (the “year over year” strategy). 3. Medicare spending would increase from $4,700 per person per year to $6,200 per person per year (the “personalized” approach). All three statements were true, and all three statements represented the exact same underlying mathematical reality. But the personalized approach was by far the most popular. The billions to billions strategy only works if you’re Bill Gates or Ross Perot, and while math majors or M.I.T. graduates may appreciate a discussion about percentages, no one else does. They’re too abstract. But by zooming in to the personal level, you encourage people to relate the numbers to their own lives and learn exactly what the benefit means to them.