The word according to Karl

“Crosby may have been on the sidelines but the campaign followed his recipe: focus relentlessly on a few no-nonsense messages that resonate with people’s everyday experiences. In last year’s general election, the Conservatives mercilessly played on doubts about then-Labour leader Ed Miliband’s suitability as prime minister, concerns about Labour’s record on the economy, and nervousness about the Scottish National Party potentially taking power in a coalition with Miliband.

The strategy to focus on a narrative that looks credible clearly follows Marx’s recipe: turning the consciousness on “what’s there” must be convincing. Not only to the populace, but even more importantly to the people who do the convincing. The use of the verb resonate clearly shows this.

“He was believable, he was passionate, he gave everyone who was watching it a very clear message: Here’s why you should vote for us,” the Leave insider said. “Then there was inspiration at the end. Those are all the critical components to motivating a voter to go to the polls to vote for you.

There was inspiration at the end because there was inspiration to start with. He was inspired.

“Leave’s main talking points, including assertions that Turkey was on the brink of joining in the EU and that Britain “sends” £350 million a week to Brussels, were hotly disputed, but gained traction with voters.

Traction. Resonance.

“Remain failed to “make the case that life for people in Britain was going to be better remaining in the EU,” said a Leave campaign insider. “They just made the case that leaving would be bad. There’s a big difference between those two things.

Logically similar. But the evening star isn’t there in the morning.

“I can’t believe people are really going to vote themselves poorer because they don’t like the Poles living next door,” one former Cameron adviser said at the height of the Brexit surge.

And that’s because one’s personal belief – conviction – will always trump “the obvious truth” – your own conviction. They didn’t see it coming, because it was impossible for them to see it.

Source: Tom McTague, Alex Spence and Edward-Isaac Dovere – http://www.politico.eu/article/how-david-cameron-lost-brexit-eu-referendum-prime-minister-campaign-remain-boris-craig-oliver-jim-messina-obama/ 25 June 16