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Tuning up voter turnout at NASCAR >>MAN: Its unprecedented what “American
Majority” is doing in NASCAR this year. >>REPORTER: They’re reaching out to voters
where the rubber hits the road. Literally. This season in NASCAR’S nation-wide series,
a conservative group called American Majority is sponsoring the number 81 car.
>>NED RYUN: 75 million NASCAR fans who tend to be more conservative, they’re very loyal,
very passionate fans.
>>WOMAN: They are just kind of your average American, blue-collar worker, who know what
it means to play by the rules. >>REPORTER: Since it launched in 2008, American
Majority has trained over 20,000 conservative activists and 2,000 candidates for office,
nation-wide. >>NED RYUN: We started thinking about how
can we really start to engage with a specific demographic and encourage them really to become
more involved in the process. >>REPORTER: This election season it’s revving
up its efforts, spending over a million dollars to get its name and its message in front of
NASCAR fans. >>JASON BOWLES: Unlike any other sport, the
fans in this sport are so much more drawn to the brand.
[PEOPLE TALKING]
>>REPORTER: But like any campaign…advertising is only the start. Off the track, American
Majority is in over drive talking to voters. >>WOMAN: every tax-payers share of the debt
is about $130,000, that’s a lot of money. >>MAN: It’s giving people information, trying
to get them interested in voting…
>>REPORTER: It’s message resonates with the NASCAR AUDIENCE.
>>RACECAR DRIVER: Gas is more expensive, food is more expensive. They got to get out there
and vote and make a difference. >> NED RYUN: If you don’t like where you’re
at, you yourself financially and economically, and you don’t like where your country’s
headed, we help connect it and say here’s the first step to making change happen.
>>REPORTER: American Majority knows how to draw a crowd…and what to do once it’s
got them. It’s built a huge database of contact information, names, numbers and e-mail
addresses to help fuel the conservative cause. >> NED RYUN: PEW has the best data, and has
got a huge amount of power, not only in the political process, but in marketing and every
aspect of life. So data is key. >>REPORTER: Data that can be used to activate
volunteers for Republican campaigns nation-wide. >> NED RYUN: Through e-mail and our text-messaging
program you’d be able to message with them throughout the rest of the summer, into the
fall and then again challenging them to engage in the process.
>>REPORTER: But not all NASCAR fans think politics belongs on the track.
>>WOMAN: I’m here for fun, not for politics.
>>WOMAN: Politics, not at the races. >> NED RYUN: Like with any demographic there’s
a significant, there’s a certain percentage of NASCAR fans that don’t vote. We don’t
want to be shoving this stuff down their throats but at least causing them to think. Hopefully
we can engage with a certain percentage of them, encourage them to vote not only in 2012
but in the years following, make it more of a lifestyle. NASCAR fans could have a huge
impact.