What Went Down On The Final Night Of The DNC

This emphasis on Biden as an individual — his empathy, his decency, his authenticity — really reminds me of 1980s and 90s politics, with less focus on parties and more on candidate qualities.

Many speeches at the convention have focused on Trump, but tonight is an opportunity for Biden to sell himself. A study of many different positive and negative messages about Biden and Trump found that Biden messages (pro and con) are much more likely to move voters and change impressions than Trump messages. Voters have already made up their minds about Trump, but are somewhat open to considering positive and negative messages about Biden.

Address important party groups: Adequate. So far, women in the Democratic Party have been heavily featured and addressed in a couple of different ways. But the convention has been less about direct appeals and outreach to specific groups, and more about highlighting what the current administration has done wrong. We’ll see if Democrats improve on that tonight.

Create party unity: Exemplary minus. I’m going a little off-book in our ratings here, but I think we may need more evidence to determine how effectively Democrats created party unity. When Sanders spoke, he urged his supporters to vote for Biden, but as we saw, he also didn’t remove himself from the nomination process. Warren had a speaking slot that she used to talk about Biden but also — what else — policy. These speeches were, in part, strong overtures to the progressive wing of the party. But some on that flank were unhappy that Ocasio-Cortez, a rising star on the left, only had a 60-second slot. In addition, Bill Clinton’s speech also had the potential to alienate some Democrats, especially younger voters. It’s probably important to note that there’s only so much a convention can do to unify a party, especially one with such significant divides. But the reason I give them such a high score overall is they’ve focused heavily on one thing Democrats have in common: wanting to vote out Trump.

Reach beyond the party base: Exemplary. Each night, there’s been some sort of nod to former Republicans — former elected officials like Ohio Gov. John Kasich and national figures like Cindy McCain and Colin Powell, not to mention clips of everyday voters. Additionally, many of the themes — emphasis on character, competence and Constitutional values (I’m a little proud of this alliteration) — are presented as specifically going beyond party boundaries and cast the election as being about something more. Lastly, the roll call vote on Night 2 was a beautiful showcase of the entire country.

Command the news cycle: Proficient. Night 3 has probably been the best at this so far, with vice presidential nominee Harris’s historic acceptance speech and Obama’s dramatic criticism of Trump. But the 2020 news cycle is a slippery target, and today’s news has focused largely on the indictment of former Trump adviser Steve Bannon.

Rally sentiment against Republicans: Exemplary. The convention has been very on-message about this, as long as we can define Trump and the GOP as the same thing.

Explain and publicize the party’s positions: Adequate. Well, they’re really only inching up to adequate. Warren and Hillary Clinton brought up some policy ideas, and Harris’s speech had some policy substance as well. But overall, I think it’s been pretty lacking. I guess people don’t really tune into a virtual convention for policy substance, though.