Opportunity for All: Favoritism to None American Support for The Heritage Foundation’s Policy Agenda

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Opportunity for All: Favoritism to None American Support for The Heritage Foundation’s Policy Agenda

June 12, 2015 2 min read Download Report

Authors: Mark Schreiber and Elizabeth Fender

The Heritage Foundation and Heritage Action for America mark the beginning of 2015 with the launch and publication of Opportunity for All: Favoritism to None. This policy vision outlines a clear path forward to preserve and create the kind of opportunities that help all Americans from every walk of life provide for their families, contribute to their communities, and pursue their dreams. It demonstrates the centrality of the two core themes of this vision—“opportunity” without the corrupting influence of “favoritism.”

Support for Opportunity for All: Favoritism to None

The Opportunity for All: Favoritism to None policy agenda is seen as a credible, relevant and a positive way to solve our nation’s complex public policy issues. The policy agenda resonates with Americans because it reflects and promotes the values and priorities of millions of individuals across the country.

  • 80% of Americans find the Opportunity for All narrative credible.
  • 62% find it to be personally relevant.
  • 59% report that it gets their attention.
  • 56% said that it makes them more favorable toward a “conservative approach.”

The core themes of the conservative vision for America hinge on “opportunity” for every American, without the corrupting influence of “favoritism” to a select few.

Top Issues

The more Americans hear and read about the conservative approach and policy solutions of The Heritage Foundation and Heritage Action for America, the stronger their support grows. The conservative approach to all issues was considered strong and largely credible. However, some issues stood out as being the full package, adding high relevance to credibility to produce considerable increase in favorability for the conservative vision as a whole.

  • Health care reform
  • Education reform
  • Ending too-big-to-fail
  • Eliminating waste and controlling government spending
  • Tax reform

Power Phrases

On issue after issue there are compelling and effective arguments, messages, and language that conservatives can use to focus discussion on the benefits and values that are key to all Americans and their hopes for the future.

“The principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense produce a strong economy, a strong society, and a strong America.”
“A bold agenda that delivers opportunity for all but favoritism to none.”
“There is nothing wrong with success that is achieved through merit, hard work, fair competition, and the creation of value in the free market.“
“For the wealthy and powerful, Washington is a finely-tuned machine aimed at avoiding principled arguments and keeping the gravy train rolling for well-connected interests.”

These phrases and words provide powerful and compelling language and talking points that will stir interest and support for conservative policy solutions.

Source: Online surveys using national representative samples of 499 U.S. voters conducted December 24, 2014–January 6, 2015 with a margin of error of ±4.4% and 6,246 U.S. voters conducted January 12–22, 2015 with a margin of error of ±1.2%.

    Authors

    Mark Schreiber

    Director, Strategic Marketing

    Elizabeth Fender
    Elizabeth Fender

    Director, Marketing