General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Academics think they've figured out why people voted for Trump and Brexit [View all]sharedvalues
(6,916 posts)While I agree with everything you've written, I also think the Dem message experts are, frankly, not very good at messaging.
I think part of that is young Republicans often get a little business training and PR and media relations exposure comes with that. While young Dems don't get the same.
But here's my example at poor Dem messaging. Frank Luntz is practically a god inside the GOP. He wrote a few books that the whole GOP knows and listened to. (Luntz is the one who told the GOP to use "Washington" instead of "government" because many voters have had good experiences with their local government. And the GOP electeds listened!)
The Luntz corresponding figure on the Dem side is George Lakoff. He wrote a few books and the whole Democratic party ignored him. He tried to start a political consulting firm and couldn't drum up business. As far as I can tell, only Elizabeth Warren has taken his advice very seriously. He has spoken at a few Dem retreats, but has gotten no real traction inside the party.
So there you are. The GOP loves Luntz and listens to him and that has helped them. The Democrats have ignored Lakoff, to their great detriment.
Democrats need a lot of help on messaging.