Rivaling the PRI: The Image Management of Vicente Fox and the Use of Public Opinion Polling in the 2000 Mexican Election

Abstract

This research examines the data from private polls conducted during Vicente Fox's presidential campaign through the lenses of the "modernization" of campaigning, the creation of image in the modern Mexican presidency, and the survey tools used by the campaign to achieve a historic presidential victory in 2000. Fox's campaign team used polling to determine the potential of the Mexican public to be persuaded by an opposition candidate, to provide a continuous update on how the campaign strategy was working, to assist in solidlfying Fox's image and message of change (rather than promoting his policy agenda), and to target demographic groups that were perceived to be important electoral partners. These findings suggest that public opinion polling is a useful tool in Mexico to combat longstanding corporatist structures used to favor the PRI. Presidential campaigns in Mexico are beginning to resemble modern campaigns in other mature democracies in their use of private polling data; future Mexican campaigns will become more image-and personality-based. he 2000 presidential election in Mexico was a momentous event.T After more than seven decades in power, the center-left Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionarlo Institutional, PRO lost the presidency to the coalition called Alliance for Change (Alianza por el Cambio) between the Green Party (Partido Verde Ecologista de Mgxico, PVM) and the National Action Party (Partido Acci6n Nacional, PAN) and LATIN AMERICAN POLITICS AND SOCIETY 47: 2

Consultoría Política. Una práctica antropológica en el mercado laboral

“…Como es de conocimiento popular, su candidatura terminó por afianzarse y la campaña implementada lo llevó a ser el primero en derrotar al PRI en la contienda presidencia de México. Precisamente, su equipo de campaña utilizó encuestas privadas con diversos fines, entre ellos: conocer la posibilidad de persuadir a los votantes, medir el funcionamiento de las estrategias de campaña, consolidar la imagen del candidato e incluso afianzar su narrativa, haciendo de esta una campaña moderna y profesional (Rottinghaus & Alberro, 2008). Además, dentro de los métodos empleados, se aplicaron grupos de discusión, una herramienta de investigación cualitativa (Lara & Rojas, 2002).…”