Posted on 12/07/2016 2:47:53 PM PST by Red Badger
The pre-election predictions of communications professionals surveyed by PRWeek proved to be unanimously – and embarrassingly – wrong. Could every PR executive in the U.S. have been so off, or was this a case of media bias in choosing the "experts?”
On Nov. 8, PRWeek published “They're with her: PR execs predict a resounding Clinton victory,” in which it reported the pre-election predictions of 22 communications professionals – not one of whom predicted Donald Trump would win the election. Not only were their predictions wrong, they were embarrassingly wrong, with some apparently more influenced by personal opinion than science.
As a result of the overwhelming inaccuracy of the experts surveyed, PRWeek’s “biggest lesson” for PR executives proved wrong:
“The greatest irony here and the biggest lesson for communications professionals: Donald Trump may lose tomorrow because millions of Latino, Muslim, and women voters he vilified – Democrats and Republicans among them—help push Hillary to victory.”
No, the “greatest irony here” is that those who make a living as barometers, and drivers, of public opinion could all be so far off.
Here are ten of their most outrageously bad predictions - and the wimpiest one.
Most Wildly Inaccurate:
“I believe that my former boss Hillary Clinton will make history and become the first woman POTUS and she will win by an Electoral College landslide of 322 to 216. That includes Florida, Nevada, and North Carolina.” - Kris Balderston, president of global public affairs and strategic engagement, FleishmanHillard
So, PRWeek surveyed a former Clinton employee, who picked Clinton. And, while Clinton did take Nevada’s six electoral votes, she lost 29 in Florida and 15 in North Carolina.
“There is no doubt in my mind that Hillary Clinton will be our next leader and that the Democrats will take back the Senate. My prediction is that we will be awed by the numbers.” - David Landis, president, Landis Communications
“Hillary Clinton will get 300-plus electoral votes.” - Richard Edelman, CEO, Edelman Click to Tweet
“Clinton is going to win and the reason is that Trump could never get the concept of the "movable middle" in campaign strategy.” “For that reason, Clinton will capture at least 310 electoral votes.” - Rob Flaherty, CEO, Ketchum
“No doubt about it—Hillary Clinton has to be our new president. Not only does she have to be, she will be.” - Jen Dobrzelecki, EVP and Head of U.S., M&C Saatchi PR
“Clinton will win with a sizable majority.” - Aedhmar Hynes, CEO, Text100 Click to Tweet
“Clinton is going to win with over 300 electoral votes.” “Trump will ultimately lose because he acts like a neofascist.” - Richard Levick, founder and CEO, Levick
“Hillary Clinton wins by a slightly larger margin than Barack Obama did in 2012.” - Jamie Moeller, global MD, public affairs, Ogilvy Public Relations
Most Ironic:
“My guess: Trump wins popular vote but barely and loses the electoral college.” - Lee Carter, president, maslansky + partners
In actuality, the opposite happened, despite Carter’s claim of unprecedented knowledge of the American public: “As communicators we have the ability to know our audiences better than we ever have before.”
“Clinton will win, in a closer election than anyone could have predicted.” - Rick French, chairman and CEO, French|West|Vaughn
Safest:
“I predict with absolute confidence that on Tuesday…somebody will probably be elected president of the United States. Sorry I can’t be more specific, but this cycle has upended all the usual rules. If we learn anything from 2016, it’s that predictions will be wrong.” - Greg Jenkins, founder of North Bay Strategies
Well, yes, yes, they will – but, how could all of them be SO wrong?
How will these people justify their outrageous client fees now?
They can’t and anybody who pays them from here on is a fool...............
They will easily explain it with something like this.
“We weren’t wrong. Trump stole the election with the help of the Russians. Next election we will be raising prices in order to overcome Trump’s cheating.”
That will be followed by the sound of dems writing checks while mumbling something about the GOP being racist and Trump isn’t their president.
Well you cant stop stupid people from believing lies, if they still really want to be clients of these people.
I don’t think that will be enough for a significant amount of people, though. Because some will talk about this with others and realize if this were true there would be hard evidence and crimes to prosecute people with, and yet, there is no proof (it does not exist because it is total lies).
Have Medved and Hewitt expressed any contrition after the election, or do they carry on gleefully prognosticating and offering Trump their unsolicited advice?
Based on Trump’s massive rallies, the ongoing Clinton scandals and the debate performances...I predicted Trump would win 40 states. I was wrong about a few. But got most of them right.
Hope these folks were keeping their billings up to date. /sarc
Would this fall under the category of “fake news”?
This is the second article I’ve read tonight here on FR that gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling! I could get real used to this.
Fake polls and fake PR people...........They have not only egg on their face, but grits and butter and hash-browns with cheese.............
I don’t know. We don’t get them here................
We watched PBS election night coverage mostly, and skimmed thru the commercial networks from time to time.
Judy Woodruff was the host that night with Mark Shields and some other talking heads. They called the election for Trump well before ABCNNBCBSFOX did.......................
To think that there are actual people and businesses that pay big money to listen to what these people have to say.
Their future as Public Relations ‘experts’ is somewhat diminished from here on out................
LOL. Now they just arrange for a quick bite to eat at Mc D’s while they consult.
Gallup, wisely, chose NOT to do any presidential election polling this year, because they were so far off in 2012.
So their reputation is still intact.................
Should have asked me, could have been a contender after this election!
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