What Americans Really Want... Really: The Truth about Our Hopes, Dreams, and Fears

By Frank Luntz

Book Overview

No one in America has done more observing of more people than Dr. Frank I. Luntz. From Bill O'Reilly to Bill Maher, America's leading pundits, prognosticators, and CEOs turn to Luntz to explain the present and to predict the future. With all the upheavals of recent events, the plans and priorities of the American people have undergone a seismic shift. Businesses everywhere are trying to market products and services during this turbulent time, but only one man really understands the needs and desires of the New America. From restaurant booths to voting booths, Luntz has watched and assessed our private habits, our public interests, and our hopes and fears. What are the five things Americans want the most? What do they really want in their daily lives? In their jobs? From their government? For their families? And how does understanding what Americans want allow businesses to thrive? Luntz disassembles the preconceived notions we have about one another and lays all the pieces of the American condition out in front of us, openly and honestly, then puts the pieces back together in a way that reflects the society in which we live. What Americans Really Want...Really is a real, if sometimes scary, discussion of Americans' secret hopes, fears, wants, and needs. The research in this book represents a decade of face-to-face interviews with twenty-five thousand people and telephone polls with one million more, as well as the exclusive, first-ever "What Americans Really Want" survey. What Luntz offers is a glimpse into the American psyche, along with analysis that will rock assumptions and right business judgment. He proves that success in virtually any profession demands that we either understand what Americans really want, or suffer the consequences. Praise for Frank Luntz: "When Frank Luntz invites you to talk to his focus group, you talk to his focus group."
--President Barack Obama, spoken on June 28, 2007, to a PBS-sponsored focus group following the Democratic presidential debate at Howard University "Frank Luntz understands the American people better than anyone I know." --Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House "The Nostradamus of pollsters."
--Sir David Frost "America's top companies listen to Frank Luntz because he understands what customers want and what employees think. He has a keen sense of the American psyche and an outstanding command of language that empowers and persuades." --Thomas J. Donohue, President & CEO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1401322816
• ISBN13: 9781401322816
• Release Date: September 2009
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.33 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.2" x 9.5"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Opens your eyes to the power of word choices

I bought this book because his previous book left such a mark on me. I didn't fully understand what a difference words make in voters' minds, for example, by renaming the Estate Tax to the Death Tax. This book is more about what Frank Luntz learned of American attitudes from polling than it is about how words matter, which made me skeptical in the beginning. In the first chapter he made a few sweeping conclusions from his polling that ended with statements like, "and forever changed our view of the environment." Really? I distinctly remember the largest demonstrations our nation ever had, in the early 70s, after our view of the environment was forever changed due to Lake Erie dying. Forever only lasted a few years in that case. But I grew much more comfortable with the book as he described our attitudes towards businesses (CEOs are no longer trusted but entrepreneurs are), politics, the American Dream, choice, the Internet, news, etc. I listened to the audio version while biking and kept thinking, "I MUST remember that line!" Now I wish I read the Kindle version so I could have marked those lines and come back to them. He is still the master of word choice and for me the best parts of the book were when he suggested better words than we use now. For example, the person who goes to their boss and asks, "How can I get a promotion" will likely get a bad reaction. But if they ask, "How can I earn a promotion," the feeling will be very different. I can point to a dozen thoughts in this book that changed me.

If you sell anything, you need to read this book.

The author, a highly respected person in his field, has written a timely, well-documented, informative book. I recommend it to anyone, but especially to marketers, to people who sell anything at all to anyone at all. I found some parts more interesting and useful than others, of course. For example, I appreciated the way the author tested selling phrases to see which one sold the most products. As a copywriter, I'm continually amazed at how changing one tiny word can make all the difference in the world! Find out what Americans really want. You'll be surprised at some of the findings. It's not always what we think. This knowledge is worth more than gold in selling to people in this country. Highly recommended. - Susanna K. Hutcheson

"This Book is Written for the Voyeur in All of Us."

The author tells the reader right up front that he or she is going to read a lot of pessimistic stuff in this volume, "but this book isn't designed to bring you down. On the contrary, it has been written to help you identify and take full advantage of the numerous silver linings in even the darkest clouds." "In our reality, we need a new road map to help us figure out where we are going and how best to get there. This book is that road map--a snapshot of who we are, what we believe, and where we hope to go both as individuals and as a nation." The author then goes on to explain some of the answers he has learned from decades of public-opinion polling in all fifty states. "In essence, this book is about listening--and learning from--the American People." Basketball great Jason Kidd said, "read, react, execute. Read the basketball court not just as it looks at that instant but as it will look a split second later; react to the opportunities in front of you as they develop; and execute so that those opportunities are realized. That's a good metaphor" for both the title of this book and for life itself. The book is about how to find opportunities for better understanding and then to maybe to put those insights into finding a service or product that can be provided. The author further states that the attacks of 9/11 and the terrible recession America has just passed through has caused major psychological setbacks in the average American's optimism about the future. He predicts it will take years, maybe decades, to recover the American's "Can Do" confidence. As the author points out at the very beginning of this tome, "The word `credit' comes from the Latin word that means `to believe'." Americans have lost much of their core beliefs in the "credibility" of their government and it's institutions. This book is filled with focus group tested words and phrases that we the public are bombarded with all day and night both from product advertisers and politicians. That is what makes this book seem so "right on." It reminds me of another similar myth busting book called "The Millionaire Next Door." That book blasted through the myths and misinformation about who millionaires are, where and how they live and how they got their fortunes. Almost every page contained new truths. Ditto for this book. Unlike the just mentioned book, this one has a business applications to it. It tells how individuals and businesses can figure out exactly what people really want and how to make a product or service that satisfies that desire. It lists the most desired aspects of any product Americans hanker to own. The book is packed with enlightening information, but here are just a few of the points the author makes based on his years of conducting focus groups. All Americans will tell you that they are for energy conservation, but what they really mean is that they want to live exactly as they do now, but they want their cars and appliances to make more efficient use of

Read this if your success depends on understanding Americans

If you care about what is really happening in America, you need to read this book. Finally, someone tells me what Americans think rather than what I should think. While I was expecting a lot of politics, there's so much more. Luntz hits all the hot topics: jobs, healthcare, climate change, religion, even retirement. I also like the fact that Luntz provides a significant amount of public opinion data, some of it his own and some of it from other public sources, to back up his conclusions. Clearly a lot of work went into writing this book. His last book taught me a lot. What I learned from this one will prove even more valuable in my daily life.

Insight into our priorities and desires

As the owner of a small business, I'm looking for insight that will help me understand my clients and make decisions that will help my business grow, especially in our current economy. I pre-ordered this book based on the strength of Dr. Luntz' previous book, Words That Work, which offered some great tips on how to communicate more effectively. While he and I are on different sides politically, his new book does not seem to have any party affiliation (the first quote he uses is from JFK!). His writing style is engaging and entertaining, and fairly balanced as well. I found the chapter on jobs and work ("I Can't Get No Satisfaction") to be the most interesting. Not only does he talk about what workers want from their employers, he also turns the tables and discusses what employers expect from their employees. Putting both in the same context is revealing, highlighting the areas where the two sides are out of synch. The aspects of an employer that Luntz lists as being important to employees are valid when customers look at a company as well. His analysis of the "2020 Generation" was an eye-opener. The picture Luntz paints is of a large group of consumers who think and act (and react) so differently than their predecessors, so the old way of thinking no longer applies. Luntz' interviews and focus groups sounded like they were painful for the media executives to observe, yet they produced some good advice on how to appeal to this segment. The chapter on politics was useful, although I might have read it differently than then author intended. I found value by looking at the voters as consumers and government as the product. The "lessons" section at the end of the chapter is as relevant to a business, or to any interpersonal relationship, as it would be to an elected representative. The old joke is that a consultant is someone who looks at your watch and tells you what time it is. Luntz is effective in this role - to me, his identification of our priorities show what people around me are thinking, which is a valuable lesson to learn.