Framing the Future: How Progressive Values Can Win Elections and Influence People

A veteran political consultant offers a crash course in the nuts and bolts of framing progressive political messages in ways that win elections.
 
Polls consistently show that most Americans are progressives at heart. By margins of at least two to one, we favor affordable healthcare for all, federal action on climate change, stricter gun control, safe abortion rights, and more. So why is it so hard for progressive candidates to win elections? Because, says Bernie Horn, most progressives don’t explain their ideas in ways that resonate with “persuadables”—the significant slice of the electorate who don’t instantly identify as Democrats or Republicans. 
 
Framing the Future examines messaging strategies and concepts that have helped progressive candidates succeed across the nation, even in such conservative bastions as Montana, Arizona, and Florida. Drawing on rigorous polling data and firsthand experience, Horn explains how persuadable voters think about issues and make political decisions—and why, as a result, the usual progressive approaches are practically designed to fail. 
 
Horn shows readers how to use three bedrock American values—freedom, opportunity, and security—to frame progressive positions in a way that creates a consistent, unified political vision that will appeal to persuadable voters. He even offers advice on specific words and phrases to use when talking about a variety of issues and ideas.

Bernie Horn has worked on politics and public policy for the past thirty years as a campaign manager, political consultant, lawyer, lobbyist, communications director, and policy director. He is currently senior director for policy and communications at the Center for Policy Alternatives (CPA), one of the premier progressive policy and leadership centers in Washing- ton, D.C. His most recent books for CPA are Progressive Agenda for the States (which lays out fifty policy solutions for state legislators), Progressive Platform for the States (a candidate briefing book covering 115 state issues), and Progressive Policy Models for the States (containing 123 model bills).
From 1990 to 2000, Horn was president of Strategic Campaign Initiatives, Inc. (SCI), a political consulting firm that helped elect and reelect hundreds of federal, state, and local officials. SCI created direct persuasion mail, produced radio ads, and conducted polls for progressive candidates. The firm also helped win issue advocacy campaigns for gun control, tobacco taxes, and health care and campaigns against casino gambling and restrictions on abortion.