IdeaLog
How to talk about gun violence and health care
Posted on July 24, 2024
As we recently explained here, there are three key rules of persuasion: (1) Always begin in agreement; (2) Use values to frame the debate; and (3) Show listeners how they benefit. Here’s how to apply...
How to talk about the environment, regulation and spending
Posted on July 7, 2024
As we recently explained here, there are three key rules of persuasion: (1) Always begin in agreement; (2) Use values to frame the debate; and (3) Show listeners how they benefit. Here’s how to apply...
How to talk about civil rights, climate change and criminal justice
Posted on June 24, 2024
As we recently explained here, there are three key rules of persuasion: (1) Always begin in agreement; (2) Use values to frame the debate; and (3) Show listeners how they benefit. Here’s how to...
Side with average Americans on economic policy
Posted on June 12, 2024
Persuadable Americans care more about economic issues than anything else. They want to know who is going to help them with wages, benefits, bills, debt, health insurance, college loans, and the like. To them,...
Avoid Three Common Mistakes in Persuasion
Posted on May 29, 2024
First: Don’t repeat your opponent’s frame. To win any debate, you must proactively frame what the argument is about. A good frame is one where your language demonstrates, based upon your listeners’ preexisting beliefs,...
Updated Rules of Persuasion
Posted on May 15, 2024
What’s different about persuadable Americans is that they hold both progressive and conservative political beliefs in their minds. They don’t engage in politics with the emotional intensity of partisans, so they can be persuaded...
Evade the Trap of Confirmation Bias
Posted on April 30, 2024
Even when they are not driven by identity politics, people’s political beliefs often run contrary to logic or evidence. In fact, psychology tells us, there are many cognitive biases that skew human reasoning. “Confirmation...
Targeting the persuadables
Posted on April 17, 2024
The first thing you need to know about politics is, you can’t persuade everyone. When people say that MAGA (Make America Great Again) voters are impossible to persuade, that they believe what they want...
Crime has declined by a lot
Posted on April 2, 2024
Right-wingers have been attacking progressives and Democrats, as usual, over the issue of crime. But, in fact, crime is down across the nation. Murder, especially, has declined substantially both comparing 2022 to 2023 and...
The subminimum wage for tipped workers is a scam
Posted on February 7, 2024
Most discussions of the subminimum tipped wage are from the point of view of the employer or employee. Let’s consider instead how it works for the customers doing the tipping because, for them, it’s...