POLITICS

How to Lead People to the Left

4 lessons from thousands of conversations with Republicans

Five years ago, I took a quiz to see which presidential candidate aligned most closely with my own views. The quiz was on a website called “iSideWith,” and although some questions were optional, I did my best to answer every single one. The previous Democratic presidential primaries had begun in 2007, when I was just 11 years old. I was excited to vote in a presidential election, and I wanted to make sure I chose wisely.

By a good country mile, my top match was Bernie Sanders — I think it was 91% or something. I barely knew who he was. I sent the quiz to friends and family, and at first, everyone who filled it out told me that they also seemed to align most closely with Bernie.

Bewildered, I sent the quiz to my Republican aunt, and innocuously asked if she would tell me about her results.

“I got Trump!” she said. “It’s probably because I support strong borders and a strong military.”

“Thank you!” I replied. (Thank God that idiot will never be the Republican nominee, I told myself.)

During the months that followed, I called thousands of voters on behalf of Bernie’s campaign. I just couldn’t stop calling.

Phonebanking is an unglamorous means of volunteering; most people just hang up, and when people do answer, they sometimes like to scream at you until you hang up.

But I developed an addiction to turning voters out for Bernie. I felt so good when someone told me that they hadn’t known it was already time to vote, or that they didn’t realize their polling place had changed.

And every once in a while — maybe 1 in 200 calls — I did the impossible:

I persuaded someone to vote for Bernie.

Some of the votes I flipped were people who hadn’t been following the news.

Some were lifelong Democrats who hadn’t realized how stark the Hillary-Bernie distinction was. But a sizable proportion — more than you’d think — identified as libertarians and conservatives.

When the Democrats nominated Hillary Clinton, I became determined to learn how to make moderates and conservatives vote for progressives.

I changed my major to Political Science, learned as much as I could about the history of left-wing movements, and gradually became involved with progressive organizations.

By the midterm elections, I was running a campaign for a state legislature seat.

So far, my 20s have been a crash course in political persuasion. I’ve deprogrammed Trump supporters, libertarians, moderates, and pro-Establishment liberals — always with the goal of cultivating sincere, lasting support for progressive causes.

I am not the top expert on sweet-talking non-progressives into joining our movement. I personally know people who have more natural talent than I do, and I have had more than my share of screaming matches with knuckle-dragging reactionaries. But I know A LOT more than I did when I first got involved with politics, and I hope I can at least prevent you from making mistakes I made early on.

My goal for this piece is simple: to synthesize everything I’ve learned about how people understand politics into a guide that can help progressives poach voters from other ideological factions.

Some items on my list will be unsurprising, but the descriptions will contain more compelling information.

For example, I’m sure you’ve heard the old adage that “you’ll catch more flies with honey than vinegar” — i.e., you’ll have more influence if you’re sweet than if you’re rude. But that’s easier said than done — especially when right-wing yahoos are testing your patience. I hope these tips will provide more than just a summary of lessons you already learned as a child.

1. “START WHERE THEY ARE.” I stole this from my mom, who has been an English teacher in public schools for as long as I can remember. You may have heard similar expressions, like “Don’t cast pearls before swine.” or “Don’t talk over their heads.” But this phrasing really hits the nail on the head: You have to start where they are.

My mom just meant that when she’s teaching, she has to be careful not to launch into esoteric analysis of Shakespeare’s subtext in a room full of 9th graders.

She has to figure out what they already understand, and gradually prepare them for that level of discussion.

In my political career, I have applied this lesson tirelessly, because it’s important.

If you want to convince someone to change their vote or even their political affiliation — a label they may have inherited from generations of conservative Republicans — then you need to figure out where their understanding of ethics and government policy diverges from yours.

If their worldview is predicated on factually incorrect beliefs (like “90% of the government’s budget goes to foreign aid” or “The Democrats run a pedophile ring”), then you might have to change their mind about that before you can get anywhere. If you find that you can’t agree on the basic facts, then that’s still useful information: that means you can’t reach them yet. Spend your time schmoozing voters who are open to reason.

2. BE PATIENT. This is easier said than done, but you do need to be patient if you want to win the support and affections of someone who is not already a committed progressive.

If someone forms an identity around their guns, their love for Trump, or their fear of socialism, then you must accept that nothing you say will instantly convert them to our side.

If you nag or harass someone about how backwards and stupid their views are, they’ll redouble their commitment to right-wing foolery.

The pace of that change can be slow, but the alternative isn’t a faster conversion; the alternative is no conversion at all. If you want a McCain-Romney-Trump voter to become a bleeding-heart lefty, then you need to be prepared to discuss politics with them multiple times in a way that’s cool, calm, and enjoyable — which brings me to § 3.

3. MAKE IT FUN. Whenever I’ve had a productive political discussion with a Republican-leaning voter, they’ve almost always said something along the lines of, “This was great! You’re not stuck-up like the others.”

Remember how you need to “start where they are”?

Well, part of that awareness is knowing that many conservatives think liberals and progressives feel superior to everyone else.

My most successful outreach to Republican voters has always been casual and good-humored.

If they bring up any factually accurate failings of Hillary Clinton or the Democratic Party, then I try to acknowledge the shortcoming and make a joke about it.

Let’s say you’re canvassing for a congressional election.

You’re just trying to change one line on their ballot: their U.S. House vote.

You don’t need to convince them that Hillary ran a competent campaign in 2016, or that the Affordable Care Act solved all healthcare problems in this country, or that the 2nd Amendment should be repealed.

(By the way, Republicans have asked me about all of those things while I’ve canvassed them.)

All you’re trying to do is change their opinion on which House candidate will be a better advocate for them in Washington.

The worst thing you can do is be a snob or a scold.

If you’re canvassing for a state or local election, and a voter tells you they hate the Democrats’ views on the Middle East, then just remind them that foreign policy isn’t really on the ballot.

You want the voter to have a good time discussing politics with you.

If you stress them out or chastise them, then they will just want to clutch their reactionary beliefs more tightly than ever.

4. “FIND THEIR PAIN POINTS.” This is another tip I stole from a loved one. My friend, who has worked in sales for years, tells me that his strategy for shrewd customers always involves finding “pain points”: specific problems or grievances that the salesman can help solve.

If you were selling a car, then you would want to figure out why the customer is buying a new car in the first place. Is their family getting too big to fit in a sedan? Do they need more seats, or just more cup holders? Did their last car fall apart? Or, did they just not like to be seen in it?

Whether you’re selling a car or a political vision, this line of analysis is valuable.

Die-hard conservatives with no reservations about voting Republican aren’t going to talk to you.

So, if someone is willing to discuss politics with you — even in a slightly hostile way — then they are usually willing to hear you out, as long as you speak to issues they care about.

So many Republicans have told me that they are single-issue voters: they vote against Democrats solely to protect Israel, or the 2nd Amendment, or the U.S. military, or fetuses.

If you can figure out what else is eating at them, then you’re on your way to changing their mind.

You would be surprised how many hard-right voters feel strongly about universal healthcare, funding public education, and other issues that are generally associated with the Left.

Whether you’re trying to flip a vote or just trying to get through Thanksgiving, remember to focus on how progressive policy-making can help them.

And, for some people, the pain point might not even be political.

If someone is thinking about leaving the Republican Party because of Trump’s tweets of Melania’s past career, then who are you to judge? There is no wrong way to leave the GOP. Encourage voters to leave for whatever reason they want. If a voter tells you they don’t like the color red, then tell them all about how blue the Democrats are. Figure out what is important to your audience, and sell to that need.

Those are my tips for convincing people to ditch the GOP in favor of progressive candidates. If you can’t win their support right away, you might want to give them some time — or, you might want to give up on them. Just make sure you listen, you’re kind, and you don’t roll your eyes at them. Right-wing nutjobs are people too, and you’ll never convince them of anything if you make them feel like they don’t deserve to vote at all.