As Democrats Claim the Moral Highground
by Bill Ballas
October 6, 2024
Framing their campaign around the words and concepts of "freedom" and "patriotism," the Harris-Walz campaign have summitted Mount Morality. Their moral messaging not only differentiates them from Trump-Vance, but also emphasizes the traditional values of which Americans are most proud. As George Lakoff, an expert of cognitive and neural linguistics in politics long ago noted, Democrats must "know your values and frame the debate."
Conversely, Trump is taking the low road. As an accomplished liar, Mr. Trump continues spreading misinformation and disinformation to create a separate political reality. In essence, his messaging resonates with people who prefer affirmation rather than being informed. Whether MAGA folks are misogynists, racists, prefer taxing the middle class and poor rather than the wealthy, or just fearful of change, each Trump supporter has co-signed onto his campaign.
This week Mr. Trump's prevarications hit a crescendo. This is evidenced by his responses to Jack Smith's 165-page legal brief filing, lies about a street gang of Venezuelans taking control of an Aurora, CO apartment complex, claims that FEMA is intentionally withholding aide to Republican disaster victims, assertions that immigrants are bringing bad genes into America, and outright denial that he secretly sent Vladimir Putin COVID-19 test equipment for Russian dictator's personal use when they weren't yet available for Americans. All of the former president's falsehoods were debunked.
Readers of this blog must be aware that in politics, facts do not change minds, emotions do. Scholars have strong empirical evidence on persuasion and voting, and how presidential campaigns have rarely changed voter minds. In fact, since WWII, researchers have concluded that only campaigns in 1948, 1960 and "likely" 2008, persuaded enough voters to change the outcome. Yet, scholars know who, why, and when folks are persuadable. This is why the Harris-Walz camp deliberately won the moral high ground.
From a neuropolitical or political psychology perspective, there are several reasons why they staked this position. First, the United States has one of the lowest voter turnout rates in the industrialized world and rarely do presidential election years achieve 60% turnout. (In midterm elections, 40% is the norm.) And in 2020, the most recent presidential election framed "to save our democracy," just 67% (155 million) of eligible voters cast a ballot while 33% (80 million) did not. Whose voters, how many, and where they turn out next month will determine the course of American history.
In addition, Americans have historically shown a deep disinterest in politics. Today, though, 65% of U.S. adults also admit they always or often feel exhausted when thinking about politics while just 4% say the political system is working extremely well or very well. Consequently, Harris has taken the "high road" to inspire voters that they deserve better than Trump. Meanwhile, Mr. Trump careens on his unscrupulous path spinning lies to sow doubt about the electoral process and spewing slurs on immigrants meant to burnish his appeal to MAGA loyalists and wannabes.
Why we vote, and for whom, are not rational decisions based on policy discussions, but a choice made of a combination of individual and social psychological factors. Such individual or personal reasons include habit, altruism, egocentrism, and self-expression. As social animals, humans are predisposed to joining others who favor the same candidate or party. In fact, voting is a positive act that gains them membership in a larger group. Social factors have to do with trying to "fit in" with a desired group, a belief voting will make a difference, and a yearning to follow social rules.
Also important is a person's self-concept (e.g., the mental expression of "Who I am") which reflects how we view ourselves. This sense of self is partially derived from the social groups (i.e., in-groups) with whom we associate. A person's self-concept is complex and marked by positivity to in-groups and negativity to out-groups.
Another reason Americans do not participate in elections is that voter costs are high. Voter costs refers to the relative ease or difficulty for eligible voters to cast a ballot. Factors such as election laws and rules, voter registration conditions and identification requirements, availability of voting by mail, the number of polling centers as well as their locations and hours of operation, and matters relating to transportation and its expense, all impact voter costs.
Despite Republican efforts to raise voter costs, Democrats are trying to lower them to increase turnout by enabling early voting (EV), election day registration (EDR), and same day registration (SDR), so eligible citizens can vote if they miss registration deadlines.
The two main reasons why political campaigns fail to persuade is because (for the reasons just cited), voters are mostly locked-in to their preferences. However, the electorate is more persuadable about candidates they know less about. Messages with more information also tend to persuade and induce partisan defection. The earlier these communications reach the public, the better for Vice President Harris. So, it is no surprise she did the 60 Minutes interview and will also do CNN's Town Hall without Trump.
Moreover, Mr. Trump's lies and incompetence, and Harris' ads reminding voters of them, is prompting Americans to remember his administration through its emotionally jarring events: a deadly pandemic with no vaccine or testing readily available, advice to take hydroxychloroquine, death, inflation, unemployment, bankruptcies, and the January 6th coup attempt ("hang Mike Pence").
What researchers know is that the magnitude of an event is not what makes it memorable, it is the emotions these events aroused. In fact, the memory of strong emotional images and events can push out other information. In addition to his behavioral health issues, this is why Mr. Trump habitually lies, resists fact-checking, and ducks interviews with the mainstream press.
There are two psychophysiological explanations for the link between emotions and memorable political events, especially Mr. Trump's term in office. First, when we are scared or fearful our brain commands the body to produce stress hormones. Then the hormones interact with various regions of our brains. This results in people better remembering scary or negative images than those that are more benign.
One research study concluded cueing fear facilitates persuasion. Fear, anger, and enthusiasm are action tendencies that compel voters to engage with campaigns and support candidates. Candidates use campaign ads and messaging to elicit emotions and thereby influence the political behavior of voters in predictable ways.
Thus, Vice President Harris employs "joy" to mobilize voters as well as fear of a second Trump term to create voter enthusiasm, while Mr. Trump depends on fear and anger to engender enthusiasm.
By taking the moral high ground, Vice President Harris is appealing to voters whose values and psychophysiology have made America the envy of the world. Despite the electoral college, I believe America's "better angels" will prevail.