A recent survey by the moderately partisan Nathaniel Dubbles Institute shows that a majority of registered Democrats who have an unfavorable view of Donald Trump would actually support the controversial Republican frontrunner in a general election if he simply changed his campaign slogan to something less brash.
According to Tad Wordy, an expert in the poetics of 20th-century populist campaign buttons, the slogan “Make America Great Again” rubs a lot of Democrats the wrong way.
“It’s hard to pinpoint why, but it might be that it makes people embarrassed for some weird reason,” Wordy said. “Or maybe it’s because ‘great’ is homophonous with ‘grate,’ which leads to ‘Make America Grate … On My Nerves Again.’”
“Or they might worry that such an optimistic rallying cry gets on the nerves more mature democracies,” he said. “Like Britain or France, who got through their little proud phases ages ago and now actively despise themselves and quite nearly die of shame at the mere sight of their national flags.”
“Why just last week, a radio station in Paris played a cruel joke in which they aired ‘La Marseillaise’ and asked listeners to sing along,” Wordy continued. “A woman who was tuned in while driving got so angry that she went into fits and veered off the road into the Ritz Hotel, nearly killing a family of Chinese tourists.”
“The DJs are facing charges of attempted homicide,” he added.
Of the 3,428 Democratic respondents who expressed strong disdain for Trump, 54 percent say that he would win them over if his slogan were simply changed to “Make America Pretty Good Again.” A further 19 percent say that “Make America Really Mediocre” would compel them to vote for the billionaire property developer. And 11 percent say that an even meeker slogan such as “We’re Okay For Now, Thanks” would draw them to Trump.