Fair is fair, right? Well, except when it’s unfair. Appealing to people’s sense of fairness can be incredibly powerful in politics, but fairness is also one of the trickiest concepts in political psychology and cognitive linguistics to get right. Many voters sense that they’re being unfairly left out of the…
Why Democrats Must Stop Campaigning and Start Managing Political Brands
If the problem for Democrats isn’t the policies, it must be the other stuff — the trust, the emotional connection, the identity. In short, the political brand. And judging by some of the contradictory results buried in Democrats’ mid-term
Democratic Political Brand Crumbles, But for How Long?
The 2012 election showed us how badly troubled the Republican political brand is — but this month’s election showed Democrats are in a lot of trouble, too. From here on, each side has a clear challenge: while the Republican electoral coalition doesn’t have the raw numbers of its Democratic counterpart,…
Decisively Improving Hillary Clinton’s Political Brand
Back in 2007 and 2008, Hillary Clinton, candidate for president, had trouble making up her mind. Just as commercial brands must be decisive, indecision at the top of the Clinton campaign ended up undermining the entire #politicalbrand, contributing to an upset defeat at the hands of Barack Obama in the…
The State of the President’s Brand
Last Tuesday, President Barack Obama delivered his fifth State of the Union address. But what is the state of the president? How is his brand holding up? On the surface, not well. According to Pew’s latest poll, the president was at 43% approval versus 49% disapproval on the eve of…
Pulling the Scooby Doo Mask off Paul Ryan
Paul Ryan is the foremost expert among elected Republicans when it comes to whitewashing unpopular positions, so if he is now attempting to brand himself as a social justice fighter, could that mean an incipient trend for the Republican Party? Paul Ryan is ready to move beyond last year’s failed…
Republicans’ Brand Loses Them the Shutdown Fight
When the Republicans shut down the government in the 1990’s, Rep. Newt Gingrich thought the president would take the blame — but Rep. Dick Armey knew that was the wrong answer to the wrong question. The question would be one of party, and the answer of who to blame would…
Top Five Branding Principles for Email Advocacy
MoveOn was the original, the big dog and role model — until it laid off a bunch of its staff and changed direction late last year. Proving that the pressures on MoveOn weren’t a fluke, DFA also made big changes a few months later. In a more mature, more competitive…
The Catch-22 of National Conversations About Race
America’s problem with racial justice was exposed yet again by the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the killing of Trayvon Martin — so should we talk about race, or not? President Obama opened himself up personally on the subject the other day, and was rightly credited by many for his…
Obama Times it Right on Climate Change
Global warming is real. Incidentally, I even have friends getting arrested because of it. More power to them. But here’s the thing: people don’t understand the difference between climate and weather — namely, that weather is what it’s like outside your house today, while climate is what it’s like over…