How to Win Elections Like George W. Bush

George W. Bush has often been underestimated in his political career. He was considered the underdog when he first ran for governor of Texas against the popular Ann Richards, and many people considered him the underdog in both of his presidential elections. He has a proven record of electoral success, and his campaigns can be used as a model for how to win an election.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

1. Rally your base. For George W. Bush, this is conservatives and the Christian right. This can turn off independent voters, but if you can inspire enough of your base to get out to the polls and vote for you, you may not need independent voters. This can lead to close elections, as it has twice for Bush, but Bush has successfully won close elections with this strategy.

2. Find under-voting demographics and find ways to get them to vote. George W. Bush's chief political strategist, Karl Rove, noticed evangelicals turnout rate was low in 2000 and so together they crafted a campaign to get evangelicals out to vote for Bush. The plan worked and evangelical turnout increased by four million in 2004.

3. Turn your opponents greatest strength into a weakness. Your opponents weakness will be obvious to voters, but if you can actually turn their strength into a weakness, you can really hurt their campaign. George W. Bush did this in 2000 by going after Al Gore on the economy and in 2004 by attacking John Kerry on national security.

4. Be the everyman. George W. Bush won his elections in part because he was perceived as the more likable candidate. He did this by being down-to-earth and appearing to be an average guy.

5. Portray yourself as authentic. In both of his presidential elections, George W. Bush portrayed himself as a plain-talking straight-shooter.

Resources

• Apply George Bush's principals to your career.