Apparently, pollsters and political scientists may have overlooked a critical predictor of election outcomes. For it appears that the party or candidate with the most catchy, memorable, and compelling campaign slogans usually wins the election. Slogans that resonate with voters, and that capture the public’s imagination. Let’s look at a few examples.
Ronald Reagan (1980) Let’s Make America Great Again. Ronald Reagan (1984) It’s Morning Again in America. George Bush (1988) Kinder, Gentler Nation; Read My Lips, No New Taxes. Bill Clinton (1992) It’s Time to Change America; It’s the economy, stupid. Bill Clinton (1996) Building a bridge to the twenty-first century. Barack Obama (2008) Hope. Barack Obama (2012) Forward. Donald Trump (2016) Make America Great Again. St. Lucia Labor Party (2011) En Rouge (In Red). St. Lucia United Workers Party (2016) Yo Pè (They Afraid).
In the 2011 St. Lucia general elections, En Rouge seemed to have crowded out all other sounds, all other voices, and to have impassioned, galvanized voters and party members into action. One had the impression that the whole island was colored red. Then in 2016, it seemed that Yo Pè was all you heard, and one had the impression that SLP supporters were scuttling for cover, and the island was painted yellow.
It seems that the party with the most self-belief, the party most in tune with the mood of voters, and with momentum on its side is the one most likely to come up with the slogan that would resonate with voters and capture their imagination. And the slogan in turn helps build momentum, creates its own magic, takes on a life of its own.
For the current St. Lucia election cycle, it appears that SLP is going to be running on the slogan: Chastanet-must-go! so much so that the calypsonians have already picked up the refrain. However, whether the Chastanet-must-go! slogan, and, what I call, the Chastanet Ultimatum—Vote SLP or suffer the Allen Chastanet train wreck—will be enough to carry the day, is anyone’s guess. But what is clear is that UWP can do themselves a favor and come up with their own slogan. Maybe they can try for size: Repeat! or Here to stay! or UWP forever!
Dr. Reynolds Recent Commentary on St. Lucian Politics
The Slogan Factor
The Allen Chastanet Ultimatum Part 1
The Allen Chastanet Ultimatum Part 2
The Elephant in the SLP Room
Vieux Fort Political Leadership Crisis
The author, Anderson Reynolds, was born and raised in Vieux Fort, St. Lucia, where he now lives. He holds a PhD in Food and Resource Economics from the University of Florida. He is the author of four books, including the memoir, My Father Is No Longer There (2019) and three award-winning and national best-selling books, namely the creative nonfiction, The Struggle for Survival: an historical, political, and socioeconomic perspective of St. Lucia (2003), and the novels The Stall Keeper (2017) and Death by Fire (2001). Dr. Reynolds’ books and newspaper and magazine articles have established him as one of St. Lucia’s most prominent and prolific writers and a foremost authority on its socioeconomic history.