What Trump vs Biden tells us about ‘bad publicity’

Why are Trump’s approval ratings getting better with every negative headline?

This is perhaps one of the best known PR cliches and like "it's not what you know, it's who you know" it does contain a grain of truth. 

So while I don't profess to be an expert in US politics, it's worth a look at this through the lens of two negative narratives have emerged around the US election candidates Trump and Biden.

One is that Trump is a corrupt convicted felon, who is therefore not fit for for office. This spiked after he was found guilty in June.

Another is that Biden is losing is cognitive faculties and is therefore not fit for for office. This spiked after a car crash TV debate in July.

However for every negative headline, Donald Trump's approval ratings seem to increase, yet Biden's decline. Why?

Putting aside the issues of how polling works, and how reliable it is - my theory is that many would-be voters are either not tuned in to the mainstream media, don't trust it, or will have forgotten the details come election time.

For Trump's supporters, his conviction comes as no surprise. For many people it was a jumped-up charge based on technicalities that had little to do with the 'real crime' (a bit like how the FBI finally got Al Capone on tax evasion) and perhaps his willingness to break the rules to get shit done appeals on some level. 

That being the case the coverage could serve to reinforce the Trump brand in the eyes of those who matter - "the hero fighting the corrupt machine" who is winning in the polls despite the 'conspiracy' against him. And what better platform than a court case.

This is the very definition of good publicity. Because it's not inconsistent with his values (and brand), it's high profile and reinforces the deep state conspiracy idea.

On the other hand, this week Biden is facing increasing pressure to step down after a disastrous performance in the first head-to-head TV debate, and a follow up TV interview that wasn't much better. 

Despite having a pretty good record, and proof points, every time we see Biden it reinforces the 'Sleepy Joe' moniker that Trump has pinned on him - a man with 'one foot on a banana skin and another in the casket' as former Trump PR chief Anthony Scaramucci put it. 

In the debate, Trump didn't really have to do much to further his case than give Biden all the time in the world to speak.

This is the very definition of bad publicity. Because it's inconsistent with presidential values of power and competency, it's a distraction from delivering the important messages about why re-electing an anti-patriot enemy of the state in Trump would be a bad idea, and reinforces Trump's message.

Bad publicity is PR that is either not noticed by the audience, or alienates them.