“Words Matter” – How Republicans Leverage Emotion-Driven Words

While the Democrats can rejoice that Biden won the presidency, they experienced surprising and disheartening setbacks in the House (lost 10 Seats), plus many “down ballot” elections in various states.  A major reason for this surprising outcome was the masterful use of highly emotional words and accusations by the Republicans which created fear and anxiety among Trump’s base (e.g. primarily non-educated, rural whites) and importantly many swing voters.  The voters’ intense emotional reaction contributed to these Republican gains, which also provides some useful lessons for smart branding.

Traditionally Republicans leverage anxiety-provoking emotional accusations, while Democrats seem to dwell more on policy which is more rational and deliberate.  In other words, Republicans deal from the heart while Democrats are more from the head.  In particular, Republicans are relentless in their campaigns to focus on certain words or themes that emotionally scare many white voters.

Neuroscientists have studied the use of emotional appeals in politics for years and have found that the most popular are:

• Anger – this also triggers a partisan motivation for individuals to dig in and defend their pre-existing attitudes, a tactic used by Trump to solidify his base of supporters.
• Fear/Anxiety – this occurs when threatening circumstances are Such rhetoric can be more credible if the claimed threat leverages the perceived expertise of the accusing political party (e.g. Republicans “own” national security and free market issues)
• Hope/Enthusiasm – this emotion is different in that it involves an evaluation of the future (e.g. Obama’s “Yes We Can”), ideally with a clear, well defined path forward.

The Most Emotional Words Today

There are some specific words or expressions that have become extremely sensitive, creating a very passionate emotional reaction by voters.  Republicans have used these accusations consistently, even though they are baseless and at least very misleading.  But these tactics certainly worked for them in the recent November election.  The most common and impactful words are:

• “Socialism” – while Biden’s platform is moderate, Republicans repeatedly refer to liberals like Bernie Sanders (a “progressive socialist”) to describe all Democrats as dangerous threats to our economy and free market system.  “Socialism” has become such a nasty, misconstrued word that implies Americans will lose their personal freedom.  The reality is that America will never adopt a socialist system, but Republicans have created this terrifying image of an authoritative, Marxist state that would be inevitable if any Democrat was elected. These accusations were certainly misleading but effectively instilled deep anxiety among many swing voters, including Hispanics in south Florida from socialist countries like Cuba or Venezuela..

• “Defunding Police” – this was another bogus claim as Biden clearly called for police reforms, not defunding them. However, Republicans found a small minority of activists who wanted to dismantle police forces and embellished this cause to falsely represent all Democratic candidates.  And it worked for many swing voters.

• “Abolishing Private Healthcare” – referencing the positions of Sanders, Warren, and AOC, Republicans scared enough voters to falsely believe that a “Medicare for all” policy would be adopted by Biden who has clearly supported a second choice for private health insurance.

• “Looting and Confronting Police” – yes, most of the demonstrations in 2020 were peaceful and their causes were honorable (e.g. BLM), but what many people remembered more vividly were the shocking visuals of looting, damage to small businesses, and occasionally overt confrontations with law enforcement. Most people were angered and rightly condemned this, but Republicans effectively described this disruption as a Democratic inspired initiative, and hence what to expect with Democrats in office.

• “Rigged Elections” – the angry, absurd claims by Trump that all many state elections were corrupted by the Democrats is a good example of how a repetitive falsehood ends up reinforcing preconceived attitudes among Republicans.

Many Republican candidates succeeded beyond expectations using these emotional tactics, even though the accusations were baseless.  This is an unfortunate reality today where disinformation has polarized our culture and especially undermined trust in our political leaders and system. Hopefully the emerging trend toward “stakeholder capitalism” will help curtail this “infodemic”.

Marketers should recognize the power of certain emotion-driven words or themes that can effectively motivate customers, assuming of course that their claims are honest.  And the same lessons should apply to Democrats in the future, to consider emotional rhetoric but only if it’s factual and trustful.