Politics with Paul

Approachable, nonpartisan, and nonideological analysis of various political topics by nonpartisan political analyst, writer, researcher, and speaker Paul Rader.

How to Self-Assess Your Campaign | Politics with Paul #103

E104 • Jul 28, 2026 • 44 mins

The biggest issue that loses campaigns is the inability to properly self-assess. Today's episode of Politics with Paul teaches how to address that problem. When campaigning, you have to be fully honest not just about what your candidate does well or what can go right, but your candidate's weak points and what can cripple their campaign. These are done through SWOT analyses - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Yet many campaigns do not effectively address their blind spots. Today, we cover why campaigns falter in self-assessment and SWOT analyses, how to fill out a SWOT, and practical applications.

Key Points

Campaigns must conduct a thorough and honest SWOT analysis to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, which are critical for crafting effective strategies.
Candidates and campaign teams often struggle with self-awareness and honesty, leading to potential oversight of weaknesses and threats that can be exploited by opposition.
External factors such as the national political climate, economic conditions, and opponents' actions can significantly influence a campaign's success, requiring both proactive and reactive strategies to navigate effectively.

Other Works

FREE 5-day educational email course on how to fight polarization: https://detoxifyamericanpolitics.com/
Buy my book about political independents: https://www.amazon.com/Why-Independents-Rarely-Win-Elections-ebook/dp/B09K8PYM5J/
Medium articles on elections and political science: https://paulrader-42650.medium.com/

Media

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulrader352/
My website: https://paulrader.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulRaderWrites
Email: [email protected]

Speakers

Paul Rader

Host • 96%

Paul Rader

Host • 4%

Chapters

0:00	Intro to Campaign Self-Assessments, SWOT Analyses
2:55	Why So Many Campaigns Fail to Self-Evaluate Properly
6:54	Listing Your Campaign's Strengths and Weaknesses
8:26	Examples of Campaign Strengths
11:03	Examples of Campaign Weaknesses
14:10	How Can Strengths Also Be Weaknesses?
17:01	Listing Opportunities and Threats for Your Campaign
19:26	Examples of Opportunities for Your Campaign
23:07	Examples of Threats to Your Campaign
25:35	How Can Opportunities Also Be Threats?
29:51	Practically Applying SWOT Analyses, Studying Campaigns with Them
34:23	Case Study: Graham Platner's US Senate Campaign
38:15	How Do You Get Out in Front of Threats to Your Campaign?
42:35	Closing Thoughts and Links to My Work

Transcript

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