I spoke recently with reporter Antonio Fins for the Palm Beach Post and USA Today network (there’s a non-paywalled version at the The Destin Log) about how the increasingly extreme positions of Republican leaders like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis may shift red states towards purple or blue — if Democrats can connect with voters over shared values. Here’s an excerpt:
‘Communication strategist Spencer Critchley, who worked for former President Barack Obama’s campaign, said Florida is an example of Republicans “riding the culture war horse too far” with “ever more extreme positions on abortion and guns and climate” even as the dangers of these policies materialize in peoples’ daily lives.
‘”The key there is to lead with the way this violates people’s fundamental values. That’s where Republicans are losing people,” he said of Biden’s strategy.
‘Critchley said Biden can achieve the same result by building a “persuasive message” on some fundamental principles.
‘”If Joe Biden campaigns based on values that by far most Americans share … and approaches people based on those fundamental values that underlie democracy, things like individual freedom, basic fair play, basic kindness, not targeting vulnerable populations for fear and hatred and abuse, I think that will be a persuasive message across the country,” he said.
‘It’s not just political-science theorizing. This year, Biden used U.S. Sen. Rick Scott and his plan to sunset all federal programs unless reauthorized by Congress as his State of the Union punching bag.
‘In his address, Biden called out the proposal as a clear and imminent threat to both Social Security and Medicare. Two days after the speech, for good measure, Biden traveled to Tampa to give a speech — and placed a copy of Scott’s plan on every seat in the audience.
‘”That’s a great example that you don’t just hit them with the policy facts,” Critchley said. “When Biden does something like leaving those flyers on people’s seats in that event, that is really, really smart. The impact of that is much greater than simply sharing the information in another context.”
‘An irate Scott accused Biden of lying about his proposal and appeared in Sun City Center to reassure retirees. But ultimately, it was Scott who blinked in the eyeball-to-eyeball standoff by carving out Social Security, Medicare, the Veterans Administration and national defense from his sunset plan.
‘Critchley said the Biden-Scott political knife fight showed the potency of matching emotional appeal, demonstrated fact and rhetoric.’Critchley said the Biden-Scott political knife fight showed the potency of matching emotional appeal, demonstrated fact and rhetoric.
‘”You do it in a way that brings it home emotionally,” he said. “When he was running on restoring the soul of America, people thought at the time it was just political. But they downplayed the impact of powerful political rhetoric. The poetry of it.”‘