Few people base their vote on policy specifics, but rather on how policy makes them feel about a candidate. As a result, how an idea is communicated is often more important electorally than the substance of the idea itself. Politicians know this, and choose their words accordingly. Hence the Conservatives shouting “axe the tax” for years while the Liberals defended their “price on pollution”.
This study analyzes where words matter. On a large survey, we used A/B testing to measure support for a range of ideas – with half the survey respondents seeing one wording version and half another. 82% of Canadians support “balancing the budget”, above the 75% who support “eliminating the deficit”
Not surprisingly, we find “the price on pollution” is 19 points more popular than “the carbon tax”. We also find “international investment” is more popular than “foreign investment”, and voters like “cutting red tape” more than “cutting regulations”.
Inside, we break down exactly which words win votes, which ones act as electoral kryptonite, and just how much support a policy loses the moment it is backed by Donald Trump.