As the market continues to struggle with the effects of the credit crisis, Obama appears to rise in the polls. I think an incredible opportunity exists to use some widely accepted perceptions to change the minds of undecided voters and push them to McCain.
Let’s look at the common perceptions.
1. People, generally, accept that this crisis is the result of people getting mortgages they couldn’t pay back.
2. Through the hard work of the media, the perception among unaffiliated voters is that “Republicans are for the rich, Democrats are for the poor.”
3. The media has succeeded in spinning the crisis in a way that it is generally blamed on Republicans and President Bush.
So why don’t we use perceptions 1 and 2 to change perception 3?
When you talk to someone who is leaning Obama because “the Republicans caused this mortgage crisis by deregulating so that low income people can buy homes they can’t afford,” you only need 8 words.
Does that sound like something Republicans would do?
Seriously, maybe we don’t need videos showing Democrats fighting tooth and nail against greater Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae regulation, or data showing Barack Obama the #2 recipient of Fannie Mae money, or hard-to-explain ties between Obama and ACORN.
Maybe all we need to do is use the public perception that Republicans are not for the poor, and that poor people getting mortgages they couldn’t afford caused this, to point out just how stupid that idea is.
“Republicans fought to give loans to poor people? Does that sound like something Republicans would do?”
Use their biases to convince them.