Building a Critical Mass of Public Support

Building a Critical Mass of Public Support

A key track of Freedom to Marry's Roadmap to Victory strategy was growing public support. In this section, you'll find resources on how we developed our messaging and message-delivery, crafted targeted public persuasion campaigns, engaged our movement and other messengers, and drove the narrative that changed hearts, minds, and the law.

  • Messaging, Messengers and Public Support

    Freedom to Marry led our movement in “cracking the code” on how to talk with Americans about marriage. Our approach led to decisive victories at the ballot in 2012, followed by exponential growth in public support for marriage, which set the stage for the Supreme Court victory in 2015.

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  • Building Public Support: Polling

    The national strategy to win marriage – what Freedom to Marry called the "Roadmap to Victory" – said that we would win by persuading the Supreme Court to bring the country to national resolution, having built a critical mass of states and support, while overturning the federal so-called Defense of Marriage Act. To create the climate for that Supreme Court resolution, the Roadmap identified three intertwining tracks to victory: winning more states, ending federal marriage discrimination, and growing majority support. Much of Freedom to Marry’s public education, digital communication, and momentum-building work was dedicated to growing public support, thereby encouraging decision-makers, elected and judicial, to do the right thing. Along with building, diversifying, and solidifying support for the freedom to marry, we also had to continuously educate the public, policy makers, and the national media that support was as high as it was – because the perception about public support tended to lag behind reality. We focused not just on “message,” but on message-delivery, working to generate millions of conversations, recruit and deploy diverse messengers, and ensure a drumbeat for the freedom to marry from reinforcing voices and media.

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  • Why Marriage Matters: Getting the Movement on Message

    Why Marriage Matters (WMM) was a national public education framework/campaign, created by Freedom to Marry based on collaborative research and testing among a group of partners, offered free to movement organizations. We recruited more than 40 national and state-level partners and through the WMM portal, shared state-of-the-art research findings, personal stories, and ready-made tools like videos, graphics, speakers bureau and house party kits to reshape the national conversation on marriage and help each state build a customized marriage campaigns.

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  • Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry

    As the campaign to win marriage nationwide picked up national momentum, Freedom to Marry devised a plan to identify and lift up voices of young conservative leaders who could represent -- in the media and at national and state GOP gatherings --the rapidly increasing support for the freedom to marry among young Republicans. While polling showed that younger Republican voters were moving toward – and eventually reached – majority support (a May 2012 poll by ABC News/Washington Post showed that 46% of self-identified Republicans aged 18-44 were in favor of the freedom to marry), Republican elected officials and spokespeople were overwhelmingly and vocally opposed. In seeking to demonstrate that our cause was bipartisan, we wanted to have spokespeople who would give voice to this significant amount of support among Republicans and help us change the narrative about conservatives and the freedom to marry in the United States.

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  • Mayors for the Freedom to Marry

    One of Freedom to Marry’s key programs was Mayors for the Freedom to Marry, which over three and a half years recruited, communicated with and leveraged the support of more than 700 mayors – from the smallest towns to the largest cities and from 49 states – to be effective advocates of marriage for same-sex couples. The robust program showcased elected officials across the country and served as a tremendous organizing tool for supporters of marriage nationwide.

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  • Persuasion Through Values-Based Conversations: California and Maine

    Following successive ballot defeats in the 2000’s, Freedom to Marry and other partners, including Basic Rights Oregon and activists in Maine and California pioneered a new strategy for engaging with voters on the question of marriage for same-sex couples. The marriage movement began investing in long-form, values-based conversations, with a focus on persuasion and with volunteers sharing personal aspects of their lives. Here’s a look into the development of this field strategy, and tips for implementing it into other campaigns.

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