The following are phrased from a hostile point of view using right-wing framing of the issue. Whether the questioner is hostile or just curious, your best answer always starts from a point of agreement and uses values.
1. How are you going to fix inflation/the cost of living?
Say… People are hurting because they can’t afford the cost of living. We can do better by supporting higher wages and more generous benefits, lowering health care costs, especially prescription drug costs, helping provide childcare, and addressing the housing crisis. You know, the corporate owners and operators who raised your prices by 25 or 30 percent are overwhelmingly ideological conservatives. They fund far-right politicians to make themselves richer. If you care about affordability, you must understand that the wealthy and their elected helpers are not on your side.
Note: Obviously, you can’t “fix” the economy. The most important thing you can do is empathize. Most people are hurting, or they are just one misfortune away from disaster.
2. How are you going to fix the economy?
Say… For most working Americans, our economy is broken. To fix it, our policies must benefit all people, not just the richest one percent. Our system works when everyone gets a fair shot, everyone gives their fair share, and everyone plays by the same rules.
Note: You’ve got to blame the rich. It’s both politically powerful and it’s the truth.
3. Are you a tax-and-spend liberal?
Say… I am a pragmatic and commonsense progressive. I support a balanced budget for our city/county/state. And I support tax fairness. We need to identify and eliminate tax breaks and loopholes that benefit the wealthy few at the expense of the rest of us. Our overall goal should be to maintain and improve the quality of life here in [location], not just for ourselves, but for our children and grandchildren.
Note: Don’t get defensive. Smack this softball out of the park.
4. Doesn’t an increased minimum wage hurt small businesses and cost jobs?
Say… Our economy depends on small businesses. We should encourage them. But all the evidence shows that increasing the minimum wage puts money in the pockets of people who will spend it almost immediately, which quickly generates business for the local economy. When we do it right, raising the minimum wage is a win-win.
Note: Americans almost worship small businesses. Embrace them! At the same time, voters overwhelmingly support a substantial raise in the minimum wage, so this is not a difficult sell. To appeal to persuadable voters, focus on how the minimum wage benefits everyone, not just low-income workers.
5. Shouldn’t we lock up repeat criminals and throw away the key?
Say… We certainly should lock up repeat violent offenders because that makes us safer. At the same time, we are safer if we prevent juveniles and petty criminals from becoming violent career criminals. We can lower the rate of repeat crimes if we send nonviolent drug offenders to addiction treatment instead of putting them in prison. Let’s focus on what works to make our communities safer.
Note: Progressives tend to talk about helping criminals. We’re right, of course, but that won’t work with persuadable voters. Focus on public safety, not the criminal.
6. Do you want to defund the police?
Say… I want your neighborhood to be safe, and I want the people who protect it to be accountable. Police are important—and precisely because of that, we need them focused on what they do best: preventing and solving crime. Right now, we ask officers to respond to mental health crises, homelessness, and domestic situations that may need a different kind of expertise. Modernizing how we deploy public safety resources—getting the right people to the right situations—means less crime, faster response, and officers who can do their jobs better. Every reform I look at has one test: does it make your family safer? The answer has to be yes.
Note: People just want to hear your priorities. You want to protect them. Then, if you discuss specific policies, show how they directly or indirectly diminish crime.
7. Do you oppose gun ownership and/or the Second Amendment?
Say… I support the Second Amendment. But like most Americans, I also support reasonable laws that help keep guns out of the hands of convicted felons or people with recent histories of violence. We need modest, commonsense measures to protect our public safety.
Note: Persuadable voters support both the Second Amendment and reasonable gun restrictions. By all means, appeal to common sense.
8. Do you support the death penalty?
Say… Our criminal justice system should be designed to make all of us safer. Since there is no evidence that the death penalty deters murder, we shouldn’t spend the enormous amounts of time and money needed to implement it. Give them life without parole and insist that our courts, prosecutors, and police divert all those wasted resources toward catching criminals and reducing crime.
Note: Again, as much as possible, focus on public safety instead of injustice.
9. What are you going to do about illegal immigrants?
Say… America’s immigration system is broken. Everyone agrees that unauthorized immigrants should be deported if they are dangerous criminals. But ICE has unleashed chaos by targeting law-abiding, taxpaying families who have lived in the United States for decades. We’ve got to stop the scare tactics and fix the immigration system so that it’s fair to everyone. This will make our nation and our society stronger.
Note: Nobody disputes the first sentence, and persuadable Americans would agree with the entire narrative.
10. Do you want to defund ICE?
Say… I want immigration enforcement that is lawful, professional, and accountable—the same standard we should hold every law enforcement agency to. ICE has crossed a line. They are detaining American citizens. They are operating without warrants. They are ignoring court orders. These aren’t immigration policy disagreements—they are violations of the Constitution and basic law enforcement standards that no agency in the country is allowed to ignore. No one is above the law.
Note: Some argue that we should abolish and restructure the agency’s duties. But the process is not the point. What matters is that ICE obeys the law, respects the Constitution, and operates in accordance with established standards.
11. Do you believe in global warming?
Say… Climate change is real and, as virtually all climate scientists agree, humans are causing it. Climate change causes severe heat waves, wildfires, higher sea levels, and much more dangerous storms. We need to act now. We know how to implement clean energy solutions. We know that reducing fossil fuel dependence will make America stronger and our kids safer. It’s time to step up and get it done…our children are counting on us.
Note: Say climate change rather than global warming. It polls a little better, and it more accurately describes the impact of excessive greenhouse gases. The one key fact that most persuadable people don’t know is that there is a strong scientific consensus that climate change is real and humans are causing it. Tie that to the security of your listeners’ children and grandchildren.
12. Doesn’t environmental regulation lead to higher energy prices?
Say… None of us likes it when prices rise. We should only support new rules that provide more benefit than cost. Environmental rules protect our air, water, forests, and parks from abuse by a few people. When companies pollute for profit, it is at our joint expense. We need fair and transparent rules to make sure environmental costs aren’t dumped on all of us.
Note: Make the environment real to listeners.
13. Do you support a vaccine mandate?
Say… Vaccines have saved millions of lives over the past two centuries—smallpox, polio, measles—diseases that once killed thousands of infants, young children, pregnant women, and immunocompromised individuals in the U.S. For most vaccines, the choice is yours. But a handful of diseases are so contagious that one unvaccinated child can put an entire classroom at risk. That’s why schools have required vaccination for certain diseases for more than 50 years—not as a political statement, but as basic protection for kids. Doctors, pediatricians, and public health experts across the political spectrum support these requirements. So do I.
Note: Open with concrete historical proof, clarify that most vaccines are a personal choice, and explain why the exceptions exist.
14. Aren’t public employees like teachers, firefighters, and police getting too many health and pension benefits that taxpayers just can’t afford?
Say… Our state/city/county should not waste a penny. We should pay fair wages and benefits, nothing more and nothing less. Based on what I’ve seen, I do not believe that the teachers, police officers, and firefighters in our community are overpaid. But there are some government contractors with excessive subsidies or sweetheart contracts, and we’ve got to crack down on those to save taxpayer dollars.
Note: Die-hard conservatives may think public employees are overpaid, but persuadable voters generally don’t feel that way. Refer to teachers and other public employees in our community because voters are more supportive of public employees they know, especially schoolteachers, than faceless bureaucrats. Then move the discussion to the related issue of overpaid government contractors. This works best if you can show an example of corporations being overpaid in your jurisdiction. It shouldn’t be hard to find one.
15. Aren’t we spending too much on welfare and social services?
Say… The United States is a great and powerful nation. I think we all agree that we have a responsibility to protect at least some people in need, like children, older people, people with disabilities, or the victims of a natural disaster. We also need programs that help people in need who work hard and play by the rules. It benefits all of us by strengthening our economy and our society.
Note: Americans are not very kind to people experiencing poverty. Outside of the progressive base, a lot of Americans assume that people in poverty failed to help themselves, don’t take advantage of opportunities “given” to them, and should “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.” Unfortunately, you cannot argue people out of these beliefs. So, describe people in need as deserving: “hardworking taxpayers” or “people who work hard and play by the rules.”
16. Should we give special rights to LGBTQ+ people?
Say… If America stands for anything, it’s equal opportunity for all. If you have two children or grandchildren, and one is straight and the other gay, you still love them equally. You know the government should treat them fairly and equally. LGBTQ+ people should be treated like everybody else, and the law should ensure they’re not the victims of discrimination just because of who they are.
Note: The equal opportunity frame usually works best. Appeal to love and finish with the anti-discrimination position that Americans overwhelmingly support.
17. Are you supporting transgender people?
Say… America was founded on the idea that all of us are created equal—all of us. Transgender Americans are our neighbors, our coworkers, our family members. They deserve the same safety, dignity, and freedom as the rest of us. Some people have made it their mission to strip rights away from a small group of people who aren’t hurting anyone—not because it solves a real problem, but because it’s a useful distraction. While they’re focused on policing bathrooms, working families are being crushed by the cost of housing, groceries, and transportation. We can stand up for every American’s dignity and fight for the things that affect all of our daily lives. Abandoning one group for another isn’t a value—it’s a political calculation.
Note: If someone wants to discriminate against transgender people, they are not persuadable, so don’t engage. Affirm every person’s value and refuse the false choice.
18. Do you support DEI?
Say… I believe every American deserves opportunity and a fair shot—a good education, a good job, a home, a family, and a secure retirement. That’s what I fight for. Diversity, equity, and inclusion mean exactly that: fair treatment for every person to achieve their best in life. All of you. That’s not a political position—it’s an American one.
Note: Don’t be defensive, treat this as an opportunity.
19. Shouldn’t we stop the construction of a mosque in our neighborhood? They’re terrorists!
Say… Freedom of religion isn’t just a founding principle—it’s a personal guarantee. Your right to worship as you choose is only as secure as everyone else’s right to do the same. Here’s how it works in practice: If a town can block construction of a mosque just because some people don’t like it, then it can block a Mormon church, a Seventh Day Adventist congregation, a Methodist or Catholic parish—or your own. The freedom that protects your neighbor’s house of worship is the same freedom that protects yours. None of us is free unless all of us are free.
Note: Most people feel strongly about freedom but have never had to think carefully about what it requires. Explain it to them.
20. Do you favor vouchers for private schools?
Say… We all want the best education for our children because we want the best for them. If parents decide private school is best for their child, that’s great. But taxpayer dollars should not be diverted from our public schools to fund private schools. We need to focus our scarce tax dollars on providing top-quality public schools so that every child has the opportunity to succeed, achieve, and pursue the American Dream.
Note: Americans are more likely to oppose vouchers if they take money from the public schools. In general, shift the debate away from failing schools and toward the importance of providing opportunity for all.
21. Do you favor posting the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms?
Say… I support freedom of religion. Politicians should never tell you or me how to practice our own faiths. In fact, state-sponsored religion was one of the main reasons that the U.S. broke away from Great Britain. Of the Ten Commandments, the first four are purely religious. That is why the U.S. Supreme Court ruled more than 40 years ago that posting the Ten Commandments is unconstitutional. The Court was right because the only way to protect your freedom of religion is to protect everyone’s freedom of religion.
Note: Freedom is the most powerful word in the American political lexicon, so use it.
22. Do you favor abortion “up to birth”? (Remember, these are far-right frames.)
Say… I support reproductive freedom—the freedom for every person to make their own private health care decisions with their doctor, their family, and their own conscience. Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the federal right to abortion, women have been denied care for miscarriages, doctors are afraid to treat their patients, and people are forced to travel across state lines for basic medical care. The whole point of freedom is to let individuals make their own decisions without government interference.
Note: Explicitly make this an issue of freedom, which is the most powerful political value in America. When we say, “their own conscience,” we are pointing out that people have different beliefs about abortion, some based on faith, some not. “Interference” gets to the crux of the matter; government should stay out.
23. Are you “woke”?
Say… I am fighting to make our community better. To do that, I support freedom, opportunity, and security for all, including a fair economy, affordable healthcare, world-class schools, a stronger economic infrastructure, and a better quality of life. You can call it what you like, but I call it leadership.
Note: When they throw a stupid question at you, turn it into a home run.
24. Are you trying to knock down the free enterprise system?
Say… I favor equal opportunity for everyone. That requires a system with rules of the road that make economic competition fair, open, and honest. I believe the market works best when everyone can participate in it—when workers are paid fairly, when families aren’t one medical bill away from bankruptcy, and when a kid’s zip code doesn’t determine their future. That’s opportunity. That’s freedom. That’s America at its best.
Note: Americans oppose economic unfairness. This harsh question allows you to lay out your basic progressive economic theme.
25. Are you a Socialist?
Say… I support freedom, opportunity, and security for all. I call that a Progressive. I support an economy that works for everybody—not just those at the top. I want every American to have access to a good education, a good job, health care, and a secure retirement—because that’s what a strong middle class looks like. Social Security isn’t socialism. Medicare isn’t socialism. Roads, bridges, public schools, and a fire department aren’t socialism. They are what Americans have always built together because some things work better when we’re all in.
Note: If you’re in a crowd, smile. That person just did you a favor.