Persuading the Public on Evidence-Based Policy

"From dose-response effects to cross-national comparisons, this brilliant terse book outlines a programme of study and methodological approach that demonstrates that people can be persuaded to vote in their own, progressive interests and that strongly-held regressive views can be positively changed over time.”
-- Dany Dorling , 1971, Professor of Geography, University of Oxford, UK.
"The authors shine a spotlight on how ambitious policy is possible. I recommend this game-changing book to anyone who wants an accessible and practical guide for combining research evidence with persuasive narratives to shift the dial on public opinion and progressive policy reform."
-- Professor Greg Marston , Centre for Policy Futures, The University of Queensland, Australia

This book offers the first practical, step-by-step guide to adversarial co-production: a survey-based method for persuading sceptical publics to support evidence-based policy.
The Common Sense Policy Group's method inverts a familiar political assumption. Rather than treating firm opponents as obstacles, it recruits them to write the most persuasive arguments in the policy's favour, then synthesises and tests those arguments on large, representative samples. In every policy area tested, opposition weakens and support rises by a statistically significant margin. The book explains why this works and guides readers through each stage, from screening surveys that identify firm opponents, through co-producing narratives, to large-sample testing. Written for an era of permacrisis, when transformative policy is urgent but political nerve scarce, the book shows that communities often cast as barriers to progressive reform are among its strongest potential supporters.
This is an essential resource for policy researchers, political communication and campaign professionals, third sector and community organisations, and postgraduate students in public policy, political science and social policy who want to move public opinion on the evidence, not around it.
Matthew Johnson is Professor of Public Policy at Northumbria University, UK.
Elliott Johnson is Professor of Public Policy at Northumbria University. 
Anna Thew is Research Fellow in Public Policy at Northumbrian University.
Howard Reed is Professor of Public Policy at Northumbria University, UK.