Frank Luntz Quotes (80 Quotes)

Democrats don't want to hear about your church. If they really cared, they'd be Republicans.

There's a problem with political polling in that you have so much pressure to do what your client wants you to do and say what your client wants you to say. I've never felt that pressure. I am independent of the political parties.

the more dangerous choice is to do something to lose your own base.

Republicans use think tanks to come up with a lot of their messages. The think tanks are the single worst, most undisciplined example of communication I've ever seen.

Politics is gut; commercials are gut.

My point is that when you're talking issues like the environment, a straight recitation of facts is going to fall on deaf ears.

Words can sometimes be used to confuse, but it's up to the practitioners of the study of language to apply them for good and not for evil. It is just like fire; fire can heat your house or burn it down.

The challenge in working in politics, particularly if you're working for a political party, is that everyone's a messenger.

The number one hot button to most voters is water quality-including both infrastructure and pollution protection.

The advantage of working for a corporation is that it has only one message, because a product or a service doesn't speak; it's just there, and you can advertise it.

My job is to get people out of situations like this. But I wouldn't know what to advise him.

Preserving parks and open spaces is a winner because it doesn't need to be explained to everyday Americans.

I don't understand why people whose entire lives or their corporate success depends on communication, and yet they are led on occasion by CEOs who cannot talk their way out of a paper bag and don't care to.

In fact, in more cases than not, when we are rational, we're actually unhappy. Emotion is good; passion is good. Being into what we're into, provided that it's a healthy pursuit, it's a good thing.

It's all emotion. But there's nothing wrong with emotion. When we are in love, we are not rational; we are emotional. When we are on vacation, we are not rational; we are emotional.

Some people call it global warming; some people call it climate change. What is the difference?

I'm pretty loud and outspoken-but so often subtlety, the quiet voice, actually communicates.

Traditional market researchers are cold and calculating and scientific.

There's a lot of money with a lot of big law firms that have a tremendous amount at stake by getting the right language to convince the right jury that my client is either innocent or that the opposition is guilty.

I was fortunate enough to have been invited to do a presentation about how the American people didn't trust politicians in general and, quite frankly, didn't trust Republicans in particular.

The eureka moment is two reasons why the output-based standard should be adopted common sense and accountability. Input-based standards don't encourage energy diversity they don't create any incentives they don't produce solar, hydro, nuclear.

If you're a good numbers person, you're a bad language person.

People like me have to have the discipline only to work for clients, corporations, political people, products, services, networks that we believe in and we want to see succeed.

That's the job of language that's the job of English. This is taking very traditional, simple, clear-cut words of the English language and figuring out which words, which phrases to apply at which opportunities, which times.

That indicated to everyone that all gloves were off. If you're going to go after the president and the administration that way, there are consequences.

I have seen how effective language attached to policies that are mainstream and delivered by people who are passionate and effective can change the course of history.

One of the things that you have trouble with politicians, particularly in Washington, is when you get mad at them and you can't touch them; you can't punch them; you can't yell at them.

What have I done that's wrong if I provide someone like a Rudy Giuliani or a corporation like a Pfizer language that helps them explain or educate I've simplified the process for them, which allows them to explain.

The longer it goes, the more people build up a tolerance. We can predict if the report comes out, it will be devastating, but because expectations are that it will be devastating, it may not have as much impact.

If Republicans explain that the legislation takes time to have an impact, they're inoculated. The only way Democrats can get an advantage on gas prices is to show that their policies would bring them down. It is not enough to blame Republicans you need a solution.