So-what does anyone here think it would take those who voted Trump this time...

[Ken Burch]

42. I'm not talking about trying to convert Trump voters.

If any of them break with the guy, it will be because he manages to alienate them-not because of anything we might say. This was more about pondering what the tipping point might be.

We do need to turn nonvoters into voters-a lot of us have been saying that for years. This involves a major change in attitude towards non-voters. Rather than just attack them for NOT voting, we as a party need to take a look at ourselves and our "offer" and need to try and find out what it is about those that fails to connect with people.

One thing I would argue that we need to change is the tendency to DEMAND votes. We had a lot to offer this year, but the demanding tone a lot of us took mainly had the effect, as it always does, of simply driving people away. People just don't respond well to being told they HAVE to do something. We do better when we phrase it as "we'll do things that will help you, that will make a difference in your life, and that's why we are ASKING for your support". People, as a general rule, to be asked. They hate to be given orders and treated as if they owe something with no expectation of getting anything in return. We can get more votes by making our appeal positive, and we had the chance to do that with what we offered this year. Instead, rather than emphasizing over and over again how good our platform was and how it would help people, far too much of our pitch, especially in the last month, was "They're monsters-you HAVE to vote for us". My experience is that, when people hear that type of a pitch, they don't think "you're right, we HAVE to vote for you"; instead, they think "If all these folks have to say is that the other side is horrible, then THEY must not have anything to offer that's going to be good for us", or simply "screw you-don't tell me what I have to do".

Now obviously, the other side was and is horrific, but if we wanted to do well enough to keep the other side out, we needed to not only say "they're horrible", we also needed to say "but here's why WE'RE BETTER". If we had found the way to make that kind of appeal, we would be celebrating now instead of quaking in our boots. And the key to winning in the future will be finding a way to make a positive appeal, to get people to vote FOR rather than just against.