On a Positive Note

Dating back to the Ronald Reagan's first term, the winning candidate has touted the positive messages. Though the campaigns might be run in a negative fashion, the core messages are still ones that are intended to inspire and cause people to believe in their country. Going backwards in time:

• Barack Obama 2012: Forward
• Barack Obama 2008: Change We Can Believe In
• George W. Bush 2004: Yes, America Can
• George W. Bush 2000: Compassionate Conservatism
• Bill Clinton 1996: Building a Bridge to the 21st Century
• Bill Clinton 1992: Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow
• George H.W. Bush 1988: Kinder, Gentler Nation
• Ronald Reagan 1984: It's Morning Again in America

Ronald Reagan's campaign slogan for 1980 stopped the trend, which was 'Are you better off than you
were four years ago?'. The question itself is an inherent attack vice a genuinely positive message, though the tone of the country and the political establishment was much different at that time. Fast forward to today, we're looking at a potentially different tone.

Over the last 32 years, the most positive message has typically won out, even as the nature of campaigns have been drowned in relentless negativity. Even as many campaigns have been run negatively, often through advertising and personal attacks, the candidate that most energetically pushed positive tones came away with the election victory. Former Presidents Reagan, Clinton, George W. Bush, and Current President Barack Obama were all noted as not only having significant energy, but they applied it to an overall positive message.

Let's take a look at the current front runners as of the Iowa Caucus polling:

• Bernie Sanders: A Future to Believe In
• Hillary Clinton: Fighting For Us
• Donald Trump: Making America Great Again
• Ted Cruz: Reigniting the Promise of America
• Marco Rubio: A New American Century

While there are certainly other candidates that are promoting a positive tone, these five candidates are arguably the five most energetic candidates pushing this message to the electorate. That means something to many people. With as much disdain as the American people commonly have for the government and for whatever administration is in the Oval Office, a rejuvenating positive message is refreshing for many and provides hope for something new, more, and better going forward.

The nature of campaigns, specifically for some of these candidates, often take a very negative overture. Ultimately, as we know in American society, branding matters. The way these candidates brand themselves as the choice candidate for elevating the American people and moving us forward to a new level is what ultimately resonate. We choose to accept the good that people often times over the bad that they do. As such, we come to accept the people who exclaim their positive overtures.

It really should be no shock that these five candidates are at the top of their party going into the Iowa Caucus and will continue to sit at the top of their party's respective polls throughout most of the rest of the race. When this all raps up in November, I still believe that, regardless of the anomalous season so far, the most positive message and messenger will again prove victorious and will be sworn in one year from now.