WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 President Joe Biden has his zingers (鈥淭his is not your father鈥檚 Republican Party鈥). He鈥檚 got patriotism (鈥淭his is the United States of America, dammit鈥). He鈥檚 got a geometry-based explanation on how to grow the economy (鈥渇rom the middle out and the bottom up鈥).
Move over, and . Biden has his own greatest hits, and he's keeping them on repeat.
If you鈥檝e heard one of the Democratic president鈥檚 recent speeches, you鈥檝e basically heard them all 鈥 and you're sure to keep hearing the same refrains in the year-plus leading up to Election Day 2024. People in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah will get to sample the playlist starting Tuesday, when Biden makes .
Biden knows where the country is in the arc of history (鈥渁t an inflection point鈥). He knows what the middle class needs (鈥渁 little bit of breathing room鈥). Did you know his wife, Jill, is from ? Yep, he 鈥渕arried a Philly girl鈥 and will be 鈥渟leeping alone鈥 if he fails to root for Philadelphia sports teams.
The repetition is a strategic choice 鈥 one with a scientific basis in a society that is loaded with distractions. People need to see his TV ads and speeches dozens of times before they truly absorb them, his campaign believes. The president has built a multi-decade political career on repeating the same stories to explain the principles behind his policies.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 communications 101 鈥 developing a compelling message and repeating it again and again,鈥 said White House communications director Ben LaBolt, who noted that marketing has a 鈥渞ule of seven鈥 in which a customer generally needs to see a message at least seven times before making a purchase.
LaBolt noted that most voters are busy taking their kids to soccer, making breakfast or commuting to their jobs. 鈥漈hey鈥檙e not consuming news like they鈥檙e sitting in the White House briefing room 鈥 you have to repeat a message over time so that people remember it,鈥 he said, noting that this has become increasingly the case in a fractured media environment.
The president has staked on convincing a wary public that the economy is rock solid because of his policies.
That means Biden is putting his economic pitch on repeat, hoping to break through the daily clutter by delivering his message often enough that voters will recall it and accept it as truth. The White House thinking is that voters will turn out for him if they know that their new bridge, new factory or tax break for an electric vehicle came from his legislative accomplishments.
He鈥檚 even repeated in speeches the importance of repetition.
鈥淲e got to let people know what we鈥檝e done and how we鈥檝e done it and why we did it,鈥 he recently told donors in Chicago after delivering a speech about 鈥 a term he has used at least 39 times during the past month in public remarks.
Philly girl Jill Biden has her own estimates for how often her husband deploys one of his other favorite phrases about the economy.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the future of our workforce, how we strengthen the economy from the bottom up and the middle out,鈥 she said at a recent childcare event. 鈥淛oe has said that, I think, a million times.鈥
Close readers of the president's speeches will note that sometimes 鈥渕iddle out鈥 and 鈥渂ottom up鈥 switch places. The first lady led with with 鈥渂ottom up,鈥 while her husband has lately been more of a 鈥渕iddle out鈥 guy. But the administration sees as proof that the philosophy works as 187,000 jobs were added in July and the unemployment rate ticked down to 3.5%.
Repetition has been a time-tested strategy for politicians of all stripes and throughout the ages.
Donald Trump, the former president and early , promised over and over to at the Mexican border. He dubbed his 2016 opponent 鈥淐rooked Hillary" and pledged to 鈥渄rain the swamp鈥 like a mantra. He likes to recite the lyrics to the Al Wilson song 鈥淭he Snake" like an encore at a concert.
Bill Clinton signaled that he was a young Democrat with an eye to the future by frequently talking about building a 鈥渂ridge to the 21st century.鈥 Republicans defined Democrats in the 1980s as 鈥渢ax-and-spend liberals.鈥 In his famed 鈥淚 have a dream鈥 speech, Martin Luther King Jr. used the word 鈥渄ream鈥 11 times.
Speaking in the Roman Senate more than 2,100 years ago, Cato the Elder famously ended his speeches with the well-worn line 鈥淐arthage must be destroyed.鈥 (Roman forces did just that a few years later.)
鈥淩epetition increases retention,鈥 said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a professor of communications at the University of Pennsylvania. 鈥淭here is no hard and fast rule on number of reiterations needed to produce retention. Concise, vividly phrased messages that employ parallelism and alliteration are more readily remembered.鈥
What Biden is trying to do is a bit more challenging: He's using repetition to try to change voters' decidedly negative views of the economy because cold hard data has not been enough. The low 3.6% unemployment rate and a decline in inflation over the past year to 3% annually has done little to boost his ratings.
Only 24% of U.S. adults described the economy as good in a June survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs. Nearly two-thirds disapprove of how Biden has handled the economy.
鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to get awareness levels up for policy accomplishments,鈥 said John Anzalone, Biden's 2020 pollster. holding out repetition as part of the solution. 鈥淎t the end of the day, people are going to know a heck of a lot about the roads and water systems and broadband that are being put around America.鈥
Officials at the White House and campaign know Biden鈥檚 standard stump speech isn鈥檛 likely to make national news, particularly as his domestic travels pick up along with the campaign. They're more interested in getting local coverage that drives home the idea that his economic policies are having a tangible effect with voters on the ground.
There are early signs that people are starting to feel better about the economy. The Conference Board said Tuesday that consumer confidence has leapt to a two-year high and a key indicator is no longer signaling a recession.
But even with the best lines, repetition is not foolproof 鈥 and it can even tip over into annoyance if overdone.
鈥淭he liking of the message tends to follow a bell curve,鈥 said Juliana Fernandes, a communications professor at the University of Florida. 鈥淚t鈥檚 tiredness and boredom actually. If I鈥檓 not learning anything new from the message, I鈥檓 going to at some point dislike it.鈥
For members of the news media 鈥 who can recite many of the president's lines verbatim 鈥 overexposure inevitably leads them to play down the very lines that Biden most wants to highlight.
The president acknowledged as much at a June fundraiser in Chevy Chase, Maryland, when he prefaced one of his boilerplate stories by allowing, 鈥淚 apologize to the press for hearing me say this so many times.鈥
That apology? He's repeated it many times over.
___
Follow the AP's coverage of President Joe Biden at .
