Bashing Trump Isn’t the Best Way to Win These Fickle Voters: The centrist strategists in Washington have had one message for Democrats trying to win back seats in this year’s midterm elections: Appeal to Trump voters. Don’t make them angry. Moderate on cultural issues. And don’t be a socialist.
Whatever moral or political objections anyone has to that advice, there’s another big reason candidates can feel free to ignore it: There’s good evidence it doesn’t work.
Way to Win, a left-leaning “strategic donor collaborative and strategy hub” founded after the 2016 election, has been working with Lake Research Partners to investigate why Democrats lost in 2024. In a report last year, they found that many voters weren’t necessarily more conservative and switched to Trump, but instead stayed home instead of voting for Vice President Kamala Harris. On Thursday, the two groups released the second phase of their research, revealing which messages resonate enough with uncommitted voters to convince them to vote for Democrats in the midterms this November.
The research surveyed persuadable voters in the middle: low-motivation Democrats and independents, voters who picked Trump in 2024 but feel negatively about the economy, and those who hold unfavorable views of both parties. It focused on voters in Arizona, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nevada, and Texas because these states have growing populations that are younger and more diverse than the nation as a whole, which means they could hold the key to future victories, as well as one this fall. The survey dial-tested messages to see which ones won these key voters over for Democrats.
The research found that populist economic messages and anti-fraud messages that named specific harms from corruption won across all of these groups. Some of the most popular messages included statements like, “Our leaders should be fighting to make all of our lives better,” and, “We need leaders willing to stand up to right-wing corporate interests that hold influence in both political parties.” Other popular messages named no-bid contracts, donor favors, ballrooms, monuments, and corporate price gouging… https://tinyurl.com/2ad7xoab