Opposition research: forget it and focus on people!

Purpose This study aims to examine the effectiveness of three actions (capabilities): offering a political product that benefits the voter-consumer, seeking information about the voter-consumer and seeking information about a political rival. Design/methodology/approach Via a correlation analysis, this study tests the relationship between the abovementioned capabilities and the achievement of superior political performance. The sample consisted of 125 US politicians. Findings According to the results, a politician’s ability to offer a political product that benefits the voter (as a consumer) and their ability to search for information about the voter-consumer enhances political performance. In contrast, searching for information about a political rival not only lacks statistical significance but also hurts voter-consumer behavior. Research limitations/implications The researcher had to remove some survey items; when pretesting the questionnaire, two respondents referred to a “very long questionnaire.” Also, the researcher made several efforts to reach the participants. Many politicians do not react to emails coming from outside their state or city. Practical implications A politician’s leadership skills, their popularity and reputation and the voter-consumer degree of satisfaction strengthen this “commercial” process between the political player (the seller) and a voter-consumer. On the contrary, a politician’s capability to search for information about a political rival not only does not show any statistical significance but also presents a negative coefficient. Social implications People lost their trust in external sources of information, including opposition research. Politicians must adjust their campaigns to benefit people. Spending millions to find information about their opponents is a waste of time and money. People need action. Health care, housing affordability, unemployment, professional development and so many other public issues need politicians to find solutions (new political products). People must be at the center of politicians’ attention. This study confirms that political opponents should never be at the center of attention. People need their politicians to solve their problems. Politicians must invite their people to participate in the conversation to build valued political products. This study’s message is clear: Politicians must forget opposition research and focus on their people! Originality/value Many politicians research their voters and their political rivals and aim to develop strategies accordingly. However, in the new era of technology, limited studies have been found to examine the impact of researching voters and political rivals on a politician’s performance. This study’s findings fill this gap and advance the authors’ understanding of the topic area. They also provide politicians worldwide with an example of how to deconstruct specific dynamic capabilities to achieve higher political performance in today’s dramatically competitive environment.