As the mid-term election approaches, Republicans and Democrats are already fiercely attacking each other on controversial social, economic and political issues. Each topic is characterized by deep polarization, consistent blaming, distrust and intense passion. In particular, the Republicans continue to effectively raise the temperature with their emotional accusations to denigrate Democrats and exacerbate the anger of their loyal base.
These Republican communication tactics also reflect proven principles of branding and marketing. It starts with good research to diagnose the most passionate fears and opinions of voters, and then they refine their promises for these intense feelings. Importantly their responses do not rely on rational explanations but are emotion driven. This practice of focusing on emotions reflects the findings from neuroscientists that human behavior (e.g. purchase decisions and votes) is determined mainly in the subconscious section of the brain (Limbic) that absorbs such emotion driven content.
This practice has made Republicans more effective communicators than Democrats. In addition they focus on emotional “hot button” issues and relentlessly repeat their claims. However, their message is often misleading with misinformation and over-simplified inflammatory slogans (e.g. “election fraud”, “critical race theory”, “invasion” and “de-fund the police”). Such tactics successfully rile up their MAGA base, who already feel left behind, disrespected, distrustful and frustrated.
While the Republican communication style might offend many Democrats, it is indeed effective and so provides some useful lessons: to focus more on emotions, make promises that people can relate to, and be more aggressive. Here are some examples of how Republicans have capitalized on high emotion issues:
- Abortion – this has become the most explosive issue due to the recent leak from the Supreme Court. Historically anti-abortion activists have done a better job pushing their case than pro-choice activists – more emotional, assertive and full of misinformation. For example, Senator Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee claimed in the TV hearings for Justice Katanji Brown Jackson that “the great majority of Americans are against abortion”. The opposite is of course true, but no one corrected her. Top polling firms like Pew and Gallup find that about twice as many Americans support Roe v. Wade and want abortion to remain legal in all/most cases. Democrats must be more aggressive making this emotional issue a key determinant for election and more strongly counteract such disinformation.
- Economy & Inflation – Many Democratic supporters argue that they should focus on their macro-economic accomplishments. However it is difficult for the average voter to personally relate to oblique economic statistics on job growth and the GDP. Now it is inflation that scares most voters. Republicans repeatedly claim that Democrats are socialists and their excessive spending has caused inflation (not true, again misinformation). The real causes involve Covid, the Ukraine War and supply chain problems. Democrats should now take a page out of the Republican playbook for describing their arguments in more emotionally relevant terms, ideally with new initiatives that address these fears on a personal level, to at least create an impression of caring and concerted action.
- Climate Change – the fossil fuel industry, led by Exxon-Mobil and Koch Industries, has lobbied Congress and repeatedly communicated the single-minded term “uncertainty” when misleadingly explaining the conclusions of scientific research and the risks of changing energy sources. This disinformation should be more aggressively disputed, which could inspire younger voters in particular.
- Immigration – granted, this is a mess. Republicans are effectively capitalizing on emotional fears of an invasion of “non-white” immigrants causing crime, taking jobs away and even destroying our social values. These disturbing feelings should be addressed more directly with the truth and new, specific programs that can ameliorate these fears
The negative, hateful culture of today is alarming. Emotional provocations are very effective but are wrong when supported by misinformation from either side. All politicians should simply be more truthful and transparent. The battle between freedom of speech and disinformation is the root of much of our polarization. Tech companies like Facebook should also change their algorithms to eliminate the escalation of misinformation online.
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