2024 Election | Messaging Matters

Warning signs for Donald Trump in Pennsylvania

Written on April 25, 2024 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents

The Liberty Bell may toll for Joe Biden in 2024

On Tuesday, Pennsylvania held its 2024 Democratic and Republican presidential primaries. While President Joe Biden and Donald Trump each won their respective party’s primary as expected, more warning signs popped up for Trump. Specifically, while President Biden won the Democratic primary with over 88 percent of the vote and over 926,000 votes cast, Trump had just over 83 percent of the vote and only 789,000 total votes.

This Trump deficit is significant because Pennsylvania is one of a small number of “battleground” states that will likely determine the 2024 presidential election. As the Pennsylvania publication York Daily Record explains:

Pennsylvania has a long history of being consequential in presidential elections — choosing 20 of the last 25 presidents.

With 20 electoral votes up for grabs, it is considered by some analysts as the most important state in the 2020 presidential election.

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‘Campaigns know if their messaging works here, it can probably work nationally,’ said Jesse White, a political strategist at Perpetual Fortitude, a Democratic consulting and digital management firm. ‘To be able to come in here as a national campaign and have the resources and messaging to effectively win a state as diverse as Pennsylvania is real work.’

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Tags: 2024 Election, 2024 Republican primaries, Democrats, Donald Trump, GOP, Joe Biden, Nikki Haley, Pennsylvania, Republicans

Republican primaries show Trump has troubles

Written on March 22, 2024 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents

Nikki Haley, still taking votes from Donald Trump

Last Tuesday (March 19), Florida, Arizona, Illinois, Ohio and Kansas held their Republican presidential primaries. While Donald Trump, like President Joe Biden, had previously earned the necessary number of delegates to be his party’s nominee, a look at these latest primary results show a lingering problem for Trump. Specifically, while Trump has run unopposed since Nimrata “Nikki” Haley dropped out of the race on “Super Tuesday,” March 6, Trump has not gotten anywhere near the voting percentage that he should now be getting in the Republican primaries.

In Florida, for example, Trump received just over 81 percent of the vote. Nikki Haley received nearly 14 percent, and Ron DeSantis received 3.7 percent, even though both Haley and DeSantis are no longer running. According to Newsweek:

The results suggest the former president is losing support in Florida compared with the previous election in 2020. That year, he won about 94 percent of the state vote in the primary.

As for the excuse that some votes may have been cast for Haley before she dropped out on March 6, that would not explain that (a) plenty of early votes were cast after March 6, including early in-person voting on and after March 14, and (b) not only did Ron DeSantis receive a good number of votes, even Chris Christie received nearly 9,000 votes, and each of them dropped out of the campaign last January.

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Tags: 2024 Election, 2024 Republican primaries, Chris Christie, Democrats, Donald Trump, Florida, MAGA, Nikki Haley, President Joe Biden, presidential primaries, Republicans, Ron DeSantis, Super Tuesday

Trump vs. Biden

Written on March 7, 2024 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Republican Messaging

President Joe Biden

After Super Tuesday‘s results this week in both the Republican and Democratic presidential primaries, it is clear that Donald Trump and Joe Biden will have a 2024 rematch of their 2020 presidential election. Trump and Biden each won almost all of their Super Tuesday contests, with Trump losing only Vermont to Nikki Haley and Biden losing just American Samoa to someone named Jason Palmer. In the delegate count, Trump and Biden again are very well on their way to securing their respective party’s presidential nominations, with Trump thus far gaining 1,004 of the necessary 1,215 Republican delegates, and Biden getting 1,516 out of the required 1,968 delegates on the Democratic side. Haley has announced that she is abandoning her presidential campaign, but she refused to endorse Trump at this time.

Accordingly, as the nomination process now shifts to an early general election campaign between Trump and Biden, a key question is going to be: what is the 2024 presidential election about? The answer to that question may well determine who becomes our next president. For example, Trump and the Republicans will likely keep talking about trans bathroom use, and caravans of “migrants” (an apparent change from “immigrants” or “illegals”), because they either have the wrong policies or no policies at all on truly important issues such as the economy, climate change, healthcare, gun violence, etc. President Biden and the Democrats, in addition to running on their strong record of economic recovery and growth, have made “freedom” a centerpiece of their 2024 campaign thus far, which includes freedom from Republican government intrusion into women’s health decisions (i.e., abortion), freedom to vote, preserving our democracy and elections against Republican dictatorship, etc.

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Tags: 2020 Election, 2024 Election, abortion, climate change, delegates, Democrats, Donald Trump, E. Jean Carroll, economy, freedom, healthcare, immigration, January 6, Joe Biden, Nikki Haley, President, primaries, Republicans, Stormy Daniels, Super Tuesday, voters, voting

President Biden attacks “MAGA Republicans”

Written on September 15, 2023 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Good Government

MAGA Republican extremism on display

Earlier this year, we noted that President Joe Biden had started using the term “MAGA Republicans” to describe his political opponents, especially the ones who are “threatening our freedoms, by attempting to cut Social Security,” threatening women’s healthcare decisions (i.e. banning abortion), banning books in schools, etc. Now, months later, President Biden, his 2024 reelection campaign team, his White House staff and other Democrats are continuing this use of “MAGA Republicans.” We think doing so is effective.

Essentially, there are two related advantages in using the term “MAGA Republicans.” First, it’s a way of saying, “look, there are plenty of reasonable Republicans with whom I can work, but there’s an extreme wing of the Republican Party that is causing problems.” And in fact, President Biden has worked with Republicans to pass major legislation, including the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, the Safer Communities Act of 2022 (which provides mental health assistance to reduce gun violence), the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, and others, all with Republican votes (and some of which the Biden Administration even terms “Bipartisan” when referring to these laws).

Today’s Snark: Vivek Ramaswamy hit by the truth

Written on September 8, 2023 by Messaging Matters in Republican Messaging, Today's Snark

Last Sunday, Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was delivering a stump speech in New Hampshire in front of a large sign with the word “TRUTH” written on it. Perhaps due to a gust of political hot air, the sign fell over on Ramaswamy. Yes, Vivek was hit with the Truth. No doubt, the Truth hurt.

In this case, the truth is that Ramaswamy has no chance to win the 2024 Republican Party presidential nomination. Vivek is merely the flavor of the month, similar to Herman Cain (remember him?) in the 2012 Republican presidential nomination contest. Indeed, it appears that Ramaswamy’s poll numbers peaked on August 25, after two days in the spotlight following his annoying Republican debate performance. Accordingly, Vivek is really the flavor of last month, and, like that “Truth” sign, is likely tumbling down as we speak.

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Tags: 2024 Election, 2024 Republican presidential primary, New Hampshire, Republican Party, Vivek Ramaswamy

“Coward Trump” chickens out of Republican presidential debate

Written on August 22, 2023 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Fox "News" Watch, Media Watch

Coward Trump

Donald Trump has announced that he will not participate in the first Republican presidential primary debate for the 2024 election, which is scheduled for tomorrow night on Fox “News.” Instead, Trump reportedly has been interviewed by Tucker Carlson, who was booted from Fox and now releases content on Elon Musk‘s X platform (formerly Twitter). The Trump-Carlson interview is set to air at the same time as the Republican debate. Furthermore, Trump’s statement indicated that he “will therefore not be doing the debates!” That sounds like Donald Trump won’t participate in any Republican presidential primary debate this year or next year.

Trump’s chickening out from the GOP debate is a great opportunity to attack him as a coward. Chris Christie, who is one of the only Republican presidential candidates courageous enough to take on Trump forcefully and directly, is doing just that. While recently sharing an article containing Trump’s debate pullout announcement, Christie wrote:

Surprise, surprise… the guy who is out on bail from four jurisdictions and can’t defend his reprehensible conduct, is running scared and hiding from the debate stage.

Trump—certified loser, verified coward.

Really, the Democrats could not do better than to quote Christie and repeat his vicious attacks on Donald Trump.

Indeed, Republican voters love a good authoritarian fascist dictator, but such a figure must be perceived as strong to be credible or effective. Attacking “Coward Trump” as being fearful and a “chicken” undercuts this image. Perhaps such cowardice could be Trump’s Achilles heel.

Photo by thetortmaster, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/LhtUYI

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Tags: 2024 Election, Chris Christie, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, GOP, President, Republicans, Tucker Carlson, Twitter, X

Can a Hippie-era song help the Democrats in 2024?

Written on July 27, 2023 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging

Jefferson Airplane’s 1969 “Volunteers” album

“We Can Be Together” was not Jefferson Airplane‘s most popular song, but it’s one of their most controversial. Released in 1969 as the B-side to the better-known “Volunteers” and included on the album of that name, the song is a hippie call to action in the face of the Vietnam War and other oppressive actions of those in power at the time, including Republican President Richard Nixon. Here are some of the lyrics to “We Can Be Together”:

We are all outlaws in the eyes of America
We are obscene, lawless, hideous, dangerous, dirty, violent
And young

We should be together
Come on all you people standin’ around
Our life’s too fine to let it die
We should be together

All your private property is
Target for your enemy
And your enemy is we

We are forces of chaos and anarchy
Everything they say we are, we are
And we are very proud of ourselves

Up against the wall
Up against the wall, motherfuckers!
Tear down the wall
Tear down the wall

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Tags: 2024 Election, Democrats, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Jefferson Airplane, Republicans, Richard Nixon, U.S. Supreme Court, Vietnam War

Republicans in disarray over Trump indictment? More like a total mess

Written on June 15, 2023 by Messaging Matters in Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Republican Messaging

Chris Christie, causing problems for Donald Trump and the Republicans

Once again, Donald Trump‘s troubles are dominating the political landscape, and the Republican Party. Trump was in federal court in Miami on Tuesday, being arraigned on 37 felony counts involving his theft from the White House, retention and obstruction of justice in hindering the FBI’s retrieval of many boxes of classified documents, most of which were held at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach. If convicted on many or all of the charges, Trump could spend the rest of his life in prison.

None of this helps the Republican Party, which is trying to gear up for the 2024 elections and does not hold the White House or the U.S. Senate majority. Instead of gaining traction with a 2024 theme, elected Republicans are spending their time explaining how much they support Trump, and there is plenty of disagreement among them.

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Tags: 2024 Election, Chris Christie, Congress, Democrats, Donald Trump, House Freedom Caucus, Jack Smith, MAGA, Mar-a-Lago, Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, Rep. Jim Jordan, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republicans, U.S. Senate, White House

Ron DeSantis is crashing: does that help or hurt Democrats?

Written on April 21, 2023 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents

Ron DeSantis (center), riding higher in 2021

Florida Governor and would-be 2024 Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has had a very bad week. First, on Monday, DeSantis continued his war against The Walt Disney Company, threatening to build a state prison or competing theme park next to Walt Disney World. Thus far, DeSantis has been on the losing end of his fight against the very well-lawyered Disney, which began when the gay-friendly Disney criticized DeSantis’ new “Don’t Say Gay” law. And this latest statement by DeSantis seems petty, as well as possibly unconstitutional.

Then, on Tuesday, DeSantis traveled to Washington, D.C. to gain support from Republican members of Congress for his all-but-announced presidential campaign. But instead, three Florida Congressmen took the opportunity to endorse DeSantis’ main rival, Donald Trump. Moreover, in one especially embarrassing instance, Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas literally walked out of a meeting with DeSantis and announced that he is endorsing Trump for President.

Given that DeSantis and Trump are the two clear front-runners for the Republican presidential nomination (with Trump ahead and gaining in the polls), there is little doubt that DeSantis’ troubles benefit Trump. Indeed, Trump piled on DeSantis on Tuesday by attacking his incompetence in the Disney matter, writing, with either typical name-calling or a typical Trump spelling mistake, “DeSanctus is being absolutely destroyed by Disney.”

The question is, do these DeSantis failures help or hurt the Democrats for the 2024 presidential election?

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Tags: 1976 election, 1980 election, 2024 Election, Democratic Party, Democrats, Disney, Disney World, Donald Trump, Florida, GOP, Republican Party, Republicans, Ron DeSantis

Trump criminal arraignment will be test for news media today

Written on April 4, 2023 by Messaging Matters in Media Watch, Republican Messaging

New York tabloid coverage of Donald Trump

Donald Trump is being arraigned today on numerous criminal charges at the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan. Thus far, much of the news media coverage of this process has focused on what Trump is saying and doing, e.g. his reaction to his indictment, his travel plans, and his plan to fly back from New York to Florida later today to give a speech, no doubt full of whining and complaining about being subject to the legal system. But today is really about what is being done to Trump, and what he faces, i.e. hopefully some modicum of justice. It’s also a teachable moment for many Americans, to find out this country was founded upon the principle that no one is above the law.

Therefore, the news media have a choice today: will they correctly focus on what is happening to Trump, including booking, fingerprinting, reading of the charges against him, analysis of the legal process going forward, the potential for prison time, etc.? Or will the media continue to base their coverage on Trump’s own statements and travels? In particular, will the news media fully cover the rather meaningless Republican circus of Trump’s Florida speech tonight, letting him once again set the agenda? If so, then we will know that the media will cover the 2024 presidential elections, like the 2020 elections, in the most superficial and damaging way.

Tag Archive: 2024 Election