Social Media and Politics Crafting Political Storytelling with Qualitative Methods and AI, with Frank A. Spring
4 snips
Nov 16, 2025 Frank A. Spring, founding partner at Altum Insight, delves into the transformative power of storytelling in politics. He reveals how qualitative methods and AI-moderated interviews uncover citizens' personal narratives about democracy. Discussing the Montana Democracy Project, he identifies key narratives that shape political identities. Spring emphasizes the ethical responsibilities of storytelling and how cultural context influences narratives. He also explores how political candidates should align their personal and community stories for effective communication.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Why Stories Shape Political Identity
- Stories serve three core roles: convey information, build leader fitness, and form tribal identity.
- Political identity grows from the narratives people tell about their lives, communities, and country.
Montana Democracy Project Findings
- In the Montana Democracy Project Altum ran AI-moderated open-ended surveys and digital ethnography.
- They found four competing democracy narratives and that Democrats started their story too late.
Repair, Not Just Protection
- Many Montanans saw democratic decline starting decades earlier and favored a populist 'big money' narrative.
- Voters preferred a fixer who would 'repair' democracy rather than rhetoric about 'protecting' it.