A couple of pieces in this morning’s Abbreviated Pundit Roundup urge Democrats looking forward to coming elections to steer clear of All-Trump-Alll-The-Time and craft messages based on the issues that affect voters where they live—jobs, cost of living, quality of life, security. This is a good idea, and not that hard, as Democratic policies tend to favor the average person more often than those championed by the GOP.
What is difficult is making these “kitchen table” messages without succumbing to the temptation to nerdsplain the issues. Political junkies, particularly those of us on the left, are rightly proud of our “reality-based” views. We want facts to back up our assertions, the more the better. Tables and graphs make us all tingly.
This love of empiricism is a virtue, but it can be a handicap when trying to craft messages for a large audience, particularly messages that have to tell a positive, pro-my-candidate story in 30 seconds.
I don’t have a template for such messages, but I do have a suggestion for those thinking about how to craft them in coming months: ditch the math.
Say what you want to say without a single number, graph or chart. Make people, like the people you want to reach, the focus of your message. You don’t have to go totally fact free like Hal Riney’s famous ads for Reagan, but make the people the story.
I know this isn’t a startling, new idea, but I think it’s one we all should keep in mind as we go about trying to move voters—not just ad targets, but our friends and families—to our way of thinking.
Numbers and graphs are wonderful, but finding ways to show what they mean is essential if we want to change minds.
Just a thought.