Following a suggestion from Bart at our new client, I’ve started to read “The Political Brain”. Perfect timing to read it too, since the subtheme of the book is: why can’t the American Democrats win elections, even though their ideas and policies are largely shared by the majority of Americans?

Next Tuesday we will see if they can or not, but in any case it’s true that Republicans have been more successful in aiming at the emotions of the electorate in the last decades - and that’s what winning elections is all about, according to the author. Too often, (Democratic) campaign leaders see people as rational deciders - weighing issues and policies - instead of as people who want to identify with, and belong to, groups, tribes, communities (e.g. a political party). The last Democrat who was able to appeal to this need-to-belong was Bill Clinton. The book opens with a comparison between a commercial by Clinton - “I come from a town called Hope” - and one by the less successful John Kerry - “ready for service”.
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