Democrats Need a Targeted PR Campaign
Failure to Create One Means Losing Control of Congress in 2022
Political campaigns are essentially sales pitches. Politicians and political parties are selling a product aimed at convincing voters that their “product” is better than their opposition’s. For these to be effective, simple messages for targeted/susceptible audiences need to be developed and repetitiously publicized. Think Trump’s election fraud “product.” A lie, that the election was stolen, was targeted at an audience predisposed to be suspicious of “elitist” Democrats. The results were predictable. For those who watch Fox news, 82 percent believe the “big lie.” Further to the right, 97 percent of voters who watch Newsmax and OAN believe it.
The 2022 mid-term elections will be a referendum on democracy. If Republicans take control of the House, legislation will stop. The January 6th hearings will be shut down. Marjorie Taylor-Green and Paul Gosar will be returned to their committees. Liz Cheney will probably be stripped of her committee assignments, and President Biden will be impeached, for who knows what. If Mitch McConnell is returned to power in the Senate there will be no chance that voting rights will be addressed.
To stop this the Democrats don’t have to lie. The have to hire professional marketers who know how to construct simple targeted messages and find the money to carry out sustained media campaigns, both mainstream and social, promoting their messages. They should start with the recently signed bipartisan infrastructure law.
