How GOP Candidates Can Win Back the Messaging War in the #2020Election
Case in Point: Face masks do not infringe upon our individual liberties.
A spate of recent polls has shown that voters are more likely to trust Democrats, and their presidential nominee Joe Biden, when it comes to a number of top issues affecting Americans right now.
Yet that “trust” isn’t necessarily because they believe Biden et. al. are the right people to solve these problems. Instead, it’s because they aren’t buying into the messaging that Republicans (led by President Donald J. Trump) are currently pushing.
Case in point: The use of face masks in preventing the spread of COVID-19
Not only do an overwhelming number of health experts strongly recommend wearing some form of facial covering while in public to prevent the spread of the novel Coronavirus, but nearly every poll suggests that the American public is strongly in favor of a mask mandate.
Heck, even Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a Congressional hearing this week that wearing a mask may be more effective at preventing the spread of COVID-19 than a future vaccine!
Instead, President Trump and Republicans are pushing for the exact opposite approach — hosting and attending large (and not socially-distant) events while preaching that face masks are unnecessary and an infringement upon their personal liberties.
My recommendation: Flip the script so that wearing a mask is viewed instead as a matter of national security. Essentially, this means that we’d be treating a virus as an enemy, just like we treat North Korea or Iran as enemies. Only this enemy is more immediate to many Americans because it is affecting us domestically.
By using this framework, it’ll be much easier to encourage people to want to protect themselves (as well as their friends and family) voluntarily — and then states won’t feel compelled to issue mandatory mask requirements, which is the source of frustration for many Republicans worried about their personal liberties.
It’s a simple fix, a popular fix, and a safe fix that will save lives. Sounds like a win to me!
(Let’s also not forget that face masks have become the go-to fashion accessory of 2020, and diehard Republicans can flout their Trump pride by donning a “Make America Great Again” or pro-GOP face mask if they’d like.)