As some commentators have mentioned in recent days, charismatic personalities play a role in motivating voting decisions, especially in an information overloaded society where it really takes that extra “wow” factor to get people to cast their votes for you.
In the recent B.C. provincial election, that “factor” was the smile that Premier Christy Clark continually displayed throughout the campaign. The public likes to rally behind confident leaders and it seemed that Clark, despite trailing behind in the polls, was always ready to take on the next challenge.
Certainly, Adrian Dix’s opposition to negative campaigning is commendable. However, he still needed to emphasize and better communicate with voters the issues surrounding the economy, environment and health care. Regardless of the surprising results, Dix’s campaign certainly deserves credit for introducing a new type of anti-negative politics to B.C. If such a political game plan is adopted in the future, which hopefully politicians will continue to adopt, it is important that it is augmented and infused with a stronger emphasis on the issues at hand, and a clear position on pressing controversial issues.
By adopting a positive campaign, the B.C. NDP carried out an experiment of sorts. Hopefully, political marketing pundits and political parties will understand that it wasn’t necessarily the anti-negative campaigning that led to the loss of the B.C. NDP, but an experiment that simply did not have all the ingredients in place. Regardless of what moral superiority points the B.C. NDP had accumulated by sticking to a positive campaign, it did not justify a policy of passive leadership.
Not only did this election surprise many British Columbians, but it also includes lessons and stories that many political parties and politicians, especially at the federal level, would benefit from analyzing and taking note of.
After Justin Trudeau’s recent Liberal leadership victory, it has become clear that the Conservative party has lost no time in releasing attack ads, and negative campaigning will likely follow in the coming years. Many polls and political pundits will also display the types of results that prematurely buoyed the B.C. NDP to a false sense of victory. It is going to be very important that the federal Liberal party analyze the results of this provincial election closely.
Negative campaigning has become a norm in the world of politics. A study by Dr. Juliana Fernandes shows that negative ads can be effective if used strategically. By taking the “positive” route, Dix was clearly taking the unconventional path and incurring a huge risk. But what becomes evident from the results of this election is that in order for “positive” to cancel out “negative” in the world of political campaigning, the positive side must exert a greater influence over the public by making policy choices clear and connecting deeply with voters. There seems to be asymmetry between positive and negative campaigns and like the common saying goes, the right path (positive campaigning) isn’t always the easy path.
Japreet Lehal is a student at Simon Fraser University Surrey. He writes regularly for The Leader.