Call It Character or Call It Likeability, But Harris/Walz Has It, and Trump/Vance Don't
My August 14 editorial in Dean's List on Medium.
I remain excited about the progress of the Harris/Walz campaign. They are winning, or, more responsibly said, getting closer to winning. I wrote an editorial earlier this week for my Medium page, Dean’s List, commenting on the difference in tone between the two campaigns. One is happy and positive, and the other is the opposite.
I believe “likeability” can win elections. In the editorial I reach back to 1984 when Senator Paul Simon (D-IL) was first elected to the U.S. Senate. That year, Ronald Reagan carried Illinois by 13 points, but Simon still managed to win. The difference, in my view, was likeability.
The Dean’s List editorial may be accessed here. I have also pasted it below.
Call It Character or Call It Likeability, But Harris/Walz Has It, and Trump/Vance Don't
Many years ago, I worked on Capitol Hill and occasionally traveled with a Congressman, Paul Simon. The two of us joked about our names. I had nothing to do with Nixon or Watergate, and while Paul Simon was talented in many ways, he couldn’t sing. He was one of the finest human beings I have known.
Simon represented the Congressional District that included Carbondale, the home of Southern Illinois University. SIU was exceptional in its success in offering a high-quality college education to people with disabilities. Paul Simon’s interest in SIU reflected his commitment to removing legal and physical barriers that discriminated against people with disabilities.
I recently thought about Simon, who died in 2003, served in the U.S. Senate, and ran for President in 1988. It was Simon’s Senate election in 1984 that made me think of him. That year, Ronald Reagan won Illinois in a 13-point landslide. Simon, amazingly, also won, beating incumbent Republican Charles Percy.
How did Simon do it? The answer was charm and intelligence. Simon was folksy. He wore a bow tie. His wife had been a state legislator when he served in Springfield. In short, Simon won on the basis of character. A sizable number of Republicans who enthusiastically voted for Reagan also voted for Simon. They did so because they liked him.
Which brings us to 2024. Trump is disliked even by some of his supporters. Harris, to date, has managed to dodge the mudballs being launched at her. She is the more likable of the two presidential candidates.
Harris also chose Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to run with her. Walz, Republicans tell us, is a left-wing lunatic. The problem is that he doesn’t look or sound like one. He was a high school football coach. He served in the Army National Guard for 24 years. His wife is also a teacher. What is there not to like about this guy? He reminds many voters of their fathers.
Contrast Walz with Trump’s hand-picked running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, the author of Hillbilly Elegy, Vance has proven to be something other than someone voters can relate to. There is his disparaging comment about “cat ladies” running the country and wanting to spread their misery. There boasts about how Trump will start his second term with the deportation of a million undocumented migrants. And there are seedy stories coming out, some of them accompanied by photographs of Vance dressed in drag.
Walz hit a political chord when he described Vance as “weird.” The label has stuck. Vance is weird. He won’t be winning Trump any votes based on his charge or relatability. And because Vance’s running mate seems to be imploding, a growing number of voters are buying into the idea that Trump and Vance are too weird to lead the country. (Those voters are right.)
So, policy positions are important and will drive the choices of many voters. Many women will vote on the choice issue, and many Trump voters will vote Republican because they like Trump’s plans to stop DEI, want to restrict or eliminate abortion, agree with appointing conservative judges, cutting taxes, drilling oil, etc. Given America’s politics today, Trump may win the votes of the policy voters. But he definitely will lose the votes of people who vote on character.
On November 5, the election may be decided by “character voters,” people who want a decent, honest president in the White House. Harris and Walz have something that Trump and Vance cannot match. And that is a very good thing.
© 2024 John Dean, all rights reserved.