It's Messaging, Stupid.

[Drunken Irishman]

Elections are based on emotion. That's it. Emotion. Not ideology. Not party affiliation. Emotion.

Sure, you have your diehards. Us freaks here on DU who'll vote in every election ever and likely almost universally for the Democrats - just as you have those same, fun freaks on the right. But for the other half of the country? It comes down to emotion.

What drives their emotion so they get off their butts and vote?

In 2016, that emotion was anti-Hillary hate. It was real. It sucked. It was sexist and awful but it was real.

In 2020, that emotion had backfired on Trump. Americans were tired. They were tired of the scandals. The tweets. The rants. The death. So, Biden was emotionally welcoming. He was the anti-Trump. No tweet storm. No ranting and raving. No extremism. Just calm. They went for the calm over the chaos - not based on the fact Biden was proposing anything special or was delivering radical change but because Biden is a nice dude, with a calming voice and enough history in politics to know exactly what you're getting.

Emotion is also part of messaging - good and bad.

When McAuliffe, in the first debate said, and I quote, “...I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach," he created unneeded emotion. Whether you agree with his overall point or not, it was a combative comment that was used against him.

McAuliffe is a seasoned, smart guy and that makes his comment all the more perplexing.

You know who else was good at playing to emotion? His old boss, Bill. He was great at making Americans feel emotion and why, despite all his flaws, he was able to overcome so much and prevail.

But that's irrelevant. What happened in Virginia, and what will happen in 2022, is a direct result of emotion.

In 2010, emotion led the Republicans back from the brink - and we're going to see if it happens again in 2022.

What Democrats need to get smart about is understanding that emotion so they can use it to their benefit. But unfortunately, I can't tell you how to do that because I don't know what will be the emotional political issue in a year.

It could be CRT, which if it is, the Democrats need a better message.

it could be COVID. It could be a war. It could be right-wing terrorism - but we'll win or lose basically by who is creating that emotion. If Americans feel Democrats are creating a bureaucracy outlining exactly what the schools should teach, without any parental influence, we're probably going to lose. If we're stuck explaining CRT in ways that don't outright reject its practice, we may lose there too because it's an emotional reaction (and logic is rarely tied to emotion).

Biden hit it out of the park in 2020 because he used the emotion of Trump's craziness. But the thing is, that only worked because it was Trump. McAuliffe attempted that in Virginia but failed to understand that he wasn't running against Trump no matter how much he tried to tie Youngkin to him. In 2022, Trump won't be on t he ballot. So, just pointing to every GOP candidate as a Trump Republican is not going to be a winning message.

So, we've got a year to create some emotion - or we'll be right back here a year from now rehashing the same points we all are throwing out there today.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

1. Roe v Wade

Go all in on the Texas law.

[Drunken Irishman]

3. THAT is a good emotional issue for the Dems.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

23. Except people who are older than childbearing age don't care.

Not sure what percentage of the electorate that is but they don't care.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

29. Exactly - that was grandma's fight.

Americans don't have any memory of the horror of illegal abortion and/or don't see it as an issue that impacts them.

[Withywindle]

41. I'm past it (just barely) and I care

I don't want young women to have to go through the horrors of back-alley abortions, and I don't want anyone forced to bear their rapist's baby, and I want everyone to get the medical care they need.

It's still a very important issue to me. Very dear friends of mine have teenaged daughters, and I want them to be safe and their rights and personhood respected.

[Dlpger61]

4. January 6th 2021

The message is Insurrection, Insurrection, Insurrection, if we allow Republicans in charge of this country they will destroy it.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

30. They countrrmessage with BLM, BLM, BLM

How is what happened at the capitol any different than those flag-disrespecting, cop-hating hordes burning down small businesses?

[TheRealNorth]

16. It needs to be tied to an emotional story

[uponit7771]

2. YEP !!! ... Only 64% of democrats believe Voter Suppression is a problem (link) so the messaging on

... this issue is horrible too.

We need better messaging

[Drunken Irishman]

7. And that's another emotional issue that can drive our voters to the polls.

We've got to frame it in a way that drives everyone to the polls.

Remember that video from yesterday about how the guy's number one issue was CRT? And then he couldn't tell you a damn thing about it?

We laughed and laughed.

But guess what? It works. Emotion doesn't need logic to be effective. It just needs emotion! That guy was totally coming from an emotional point of view.

Focus on voter suppression but enlarge its impact. Don't just make it a person of color issue. Go after whites, too, in the suburbs and scare them into believing the Republicans are going to come after their vote too. It's not that they don't just want people of color not voting - they don't want ANY potential Democrat to vote. We do need a better messaging on ID laws, but the focus absolutely should be how the Republican Party is undermining democracy and working to make it so you won't ever have a say.

We ain't going to win over Republicans with that argument but we sure as hell can win over suburban voters, who likely swung Republican in Virginia.

[uponit7771]

10. THIS !!!! ☝🏾☝🏾☝🏾 "..Emotion doesn't need logic to be effective..."

[Claustrum]

12. Agreed.

Just saying racist is not enough. Even if some of them are motivated by racism, it can be overcome if our message is right. Trump is just too racist or controversial for them. They are reachable as long as we found the right message to lean on.

[a kennedy]

13. Exactly......the hidden race issue......front and center with a lot of white people.

Oh, and we can thank tRump for that shit.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

31. LOL. Thank Nixon

...and Ronald Reagan

[appalachiablue]

21. ++

[TheRealNorth]

5. National Democrats have spent the last 3 months fighting amongst each other.....

We can't necessarily stop the debate around the infrastructure plan, but it should be mandated that anytime that someone sticks a camera in front of your face that you have a line/message that bashes Republicans.


That is all.

[wellst0nev0ter]

6. Biden was 44,000 votes away from losing to Trump

The problem is that we are always cavalier with the margins, and with how resurgent the trumpanzees are.

In order to win off-presidential elections like this, you needed turnout from your base.

You turn out your base by exciting them.

Ossoff and Warnock won in Georgia because they promised voters $2,000 checks out the door.

Where was that in this election?

[uponit7771]

11. There was par turnout in VA there was two 10+ blue counties that flipped and we need to know why

... that's alarming

[questionseverything]

22. In 2020 a couple could earn $400,000. And still receive the child tax credit

Democrats lowered that to $150,000.

Lots of parents in those Virginia suburbs lost their child tax credit

Now manchin and the democrats are talking about lowering it to $60,000

To me it was raising taxes on couples making under $400,000 (which I thought biden pledged not to do)

[uponit7771]

43. When did the lowering to 150k happen? ... tia

[questionseverything]

47. When they added $1000. Or $1500 under five

2021

The current credits

[pstokely]

17. did McAuliffe promise anything?

anything at all?

[bluewater]

32. He mostly tried equating Youngkin to Trump.

[lapucelle]

8. The message the past two weeks has been that some Democrats are corrupt

and that the human infrastructure bill is so pared down that it sucks. And of course the media ran with that narrative.

I've heard and read those toxic talking points over and over for the past two weeks, and my question has been

Cui bono?

I think we have our answer.

[renate]

9. I totally agree and just hope this is a wake up call at the very least

At least this isn’t 2022.

[czarjak]

20. Missed wake-up calls are what they are. It ain't good, either.

[Mister Ed]

14. Thank you. This is the OP I have trying all week to find a way to articulate.

It's necessary - absolutely necessary - for Dems in congress to do the important work of providing for the people by passing the major bills that are in the works. But don't think for a moment that the voters will reward them for it.

Instead, voters will vote base on what they're feeling. So, Democratic strategists need to find ways to get the voters feeling like voting Democratic, and not feeling like voting for Republicans.

[dalton99a]

15. Yep. People vote on their emotions, not on facts.

[ecstatic]

18. CRT is a 100% white trumper issue.

McAuliffe walked into that land mine because he doesn't understand the base.

He was trying to walk an unnecessary tightrope.

[Cha]

19. It's Incredible they Don't

know This!

[KPN]

36. It is.

[bluewater]

24. K&R

[crimycarny]

27. Then we need to look at ourselves in the mirror

Because there is a h*ll of a lot more in-fighting amongst our base than there is amongst GOP base.

Why do you think McAuliffe flubbed the response to CRT? BECAUSE HE HAS TO STRADDLE A TIGHTROPE TO KEEP MEMBERS OF THE BASE FROM EQUATING A QUALIFICATION OF CRT AS A CONDEMNATION OF CRT.

Geez...WE'RE the problem people! We've got to stop with the purity tests and focus on a longer strategy. Just a few days ago I made a post about my displeasure over AOC calling for the resignation of one of the most successful NY Democratic chairs in history (Jay Jacobs) because of an inartful tweet he made re: India Walton. Despite making it clear that I liked AOC overall, I just didn't agree with the way she went after Jay Jacobs, I was accused of being a misogynist, a racist, a whatever. And several Dems were also calling for Jay Jacobs resignation despite the fact that 1) He is one of the most successful Dem NY Chairs for getting women and POC elected, 2) turned a 100 year GOP stronghold blue, 3) Is one of the best fundraisers EVER for the NY Democratic party.

This happens ALL THE TIME in the Dem party. The GOP laughs its *ss off. "Pssst....who's our biggest nightmare? Al Franken? Ok, just have a few women accuse him of inappropriate behavior and the Dems will fall all over themselves to get rid of him." Which we did---without any investigation.

Can we just agree to focus on the long game and not have knee-jerk reactions to everything regarding members of our own party? No wonder they are terrified of saying the wrong thing.

[Justice matters.]

33. Failing to prosecute the orange terrorist for his crimes could cost a lot of positive emotion...

from part the 81,000,000+ votes Joe Biden won...

Just sayin... total inaction from Garland on that front COULD cost us a LOT of positive emotion.

[Jon King]

35. I disagree, many of the 81 mil voted cause of Covid.

Most Americans but us could care less about the 1-6 stuff. They care about what affects them and their kids today and next week. Economy, gas prices, food prices, crime, border security, education curriculum, competing with China. No Covid and Trump wins that election with ease.

[Yorkist]

42. Completely true this.

I think it’s fair to say, if he’d played his crowd different and urged Americans to do the patriotic thing for Grandma and wear a mask then get the jab he’d have walked it.

Probably not so smart switching your base off from postal voting either, not when a pandemic is in full flow.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

49. Agree. We have lost some Dems obviously if you

look at approval #s. Why? Of course can't believe this would make anyone vote red. Perhaps just not vote?

Smerconish, who I usually am not a fan of, just made a good point. Said FG losing was not necessarily a mandate for Dems but rather a vote against FG.

[Justice matters.]

52. Maybe not vote by just staying home?

Like, maybe just disgusted with the false "Equal Justice For All" meme which is really a sham?

[Jon King]

34. Bill Maher offends many here, but he is plugged in to swing voters.

He has been saying the Dems were losing the messaging battle starting a few months after the election. It is what it is.

[In It to Win It]

37. We have phenomenal messengers, they just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time

Think:

Stacey Abrams in 2018 for Georgia
Jaime Harrison in 2020 for South Carolina
Beto O'Rourke in 2018 for Texas
Andrew Gillum in 2018 for Florida (before he fucked up his career)

These people were, and are, phenomenal messengers even though they lost. They were all fighting uphill battles as the politics of their state was not in their favor. Whoever ran their campaigns need to spread their talent.

As the OP mentioned, McAuliffe was not good at the messaging. Sure, parents don't make the curriculum for schools. McAuliffe isn't wrong about that but that was not the time to make that point. People are COVID-fatigued so get so detailed on vaccines and vaccine mandates.

The Democratic party tries to make sense more than it tries to connect with people. People have short attention spans. They won't remember if you made sense but they'll remember if you connected with them or if you made them feel excited or afraid.

[Celerity]

44. Buttigieg

We have phenomenal messengers

Disagree on Harrison (and he IS running the DNC now, so a fair chunk of this is on him)

His Senate campaign should have set off major warning signs. He took one outlier poll, weeks before the election, that showed him within the margin of error versus Graham, and then convinced so many that he had a chance, thus drawing in and wasting tens of millions of dollars on a fantasyland, wish-fulfilment Charge of the Light Brigade. He never came close to spending all that money, and the national apparatus never shifted it to help candidates like Bullock in MY and Greenfield in IA (to a lesser extent, and unlike Bullock, she was not the best candidate we could have had there, Bullock was the ONLY best possible Dem Senate candidate who lost).

Bullock actually WAS leading (and Greenfield was close) until last minute insane RW dark money advert dumps that buried them late, and for which they had nowhere near enough money to counter. The same thing happened in fantasyland races KY and Texas, and (to a lesser extent) Maine. They all shit away so much money that could have went elsewhere. I was warning on this for weeks BEFORE the elections.

Harrison's model was based off smoke and mirrors. He never was up to being the national DNC head. I said this before he was chosen as well, and caught hell.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

51. The Democratic party tries to make sense more than it tries to connect with people

Ding ding ding. We used to not be like that. People like Ted Kennedy could bring you to tears over people not being able to afford a doctor.

[Initech]

38. How do you compete with 3 24 hour TV stations, 2500 radio stations, and internet propaganda?

Seriously, how?

[Cetacea]

39. +1000

And it's not likely to change. Deaf ears...

[Initech]

40. Unless COVID takes the ones who refuse to get vaxxed out.

In that case...

[book_worm]

45. Well said.

The Dems on the national stage these last several months have looked weak and acted like they can't accomplish anything. Biden's approval ratings are rivaling Trump's. Democrats, however, did stay loyal to Dems which is the only reason why VA AND NJ (NOW there is a shocker in it's closeness and may go to the GOP) were close. However, Republicans voted in big numbers and INDEPENDENTS have deserted the Dems big time. Unless Dems can get their act together in 2022 we will have another bloodbath a year from now.

[quakerboy]

46. I dont fully agree

I do think you are on something about the emotions. And those have less to do with reality than perception.

Where we part ways is that I think that CRT and that was only a small part of what happened. Its worth noting that McAulifes polling seemed to track Bidens. And Bidens polling has little to do with CRT, and more to do with his apparent failure to be able to get his own party to agree to actually do what we all campaigned on,

My vote is we campaign and get the emotion on what we speclalize in.

We campaign on an infrastructure bill. Hitting that pothole around the corner of your street raises EVERYONEs blood pressure. And I doubt a single american wants reality to be that Hungary has better internet speeds than the USA, or Iraq has better mobile connection speeds that the USA

We campaign on stuff that effects us daily. Making taxes fair. Family values like making sure kids have food, women have health care, etc.

And then we DO those things. Every vote. Every time. And if a legislator doesnt vote for them, they are not a democrat.

[Ron Green]

48. The Only Emotions Are Fear and Love.

There are slight variations, but they all derive from these two: low brain stem fear, and frontal cortex love. Republicans know how to use fear, so they win. Democrats want to care for others, make the world better, save the planet - all the manifestations of love - but that can’t be sold in a sound bite, so they lose.

It’s really that simple, and it’s not gonna change.

[betsuni]

50. No, where there are lots of Republican voters, elections are won by Republicans.