Which Message Will Resonate With Voters?

Submission 2,955

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Campaign '24 brat Look at all these forced unfunny memes made by homosexuals for me lol I'm gonna deport a trillion mexicans Which Message Will Resonate with Voters?

Friday, October 17, 1980 IN་་ FINEST AMERICAN NEWS SOURCE IN Trucker, Monkey LET THE PAVG Ice Begin 444 25 Campaign '80 Targeted by Area Police Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan "Let's Talk Better "Kill the Bastards" Mileage" county line." "We suspect that unlawful shenanigans may have been involved," he added. VALDOSTA. G-Autho rities in this rural southern town continued their search Thursday for independent trucker B.J. McCay and his Despite the sheriff's relent- chimpanzee associate, Bear less search h for information McCay and his simian pet leading to the apprehension of were last scen speeding toward the trucker and the chiang, Macon in a rod-and-white rig some observers question They are wanted in connection whether the department has with a recent series of wild car been using unauthorized pro- and truck chases, known assocedures in pursuit of the d elation with af and zeny of the du duo provocatively dressed Wilhelmina "The state trouper Wilhelmina Said with attractive women, Sgt. Beaursgard Wiley, who, along with Winslow County's Sherill Masters, has been pur- suing the pair for more than a year, said he has several sig nificant leads in the case. questioned two two young female hitchhikers," Wiley said, "and they reported that a handsome man and a regular zoo-monkey had given them a lift from Huntersville to the Fox" Johnson. To detain any suspect, no matter how hand- some or fun-loving, the sheriff must have a concrete charge." Wet an Wiley said he and the sheriff plan to conduct an investige- tion at the Country Comfort Truck Stop, where they will interrogate the owner, Bullets, to obtain crucial evidence of McCay and Bear's acts of mis- chief Danielle Steel Publishes Which Message Will Resonate with Voters? First Through Eighth Novels ANN ARBOR, Mich-la a While much of what nationally televised debate President Carter says is true, building, and low-cost hous- ing and job-training pro- BEVERLY HILLS, Calif- which she expects to finish in Roraance novelist Danielle the next 20 to 25 minutes.

Campaign '24 George C. Butte Ma Ferguson "I am a Republican. Also don't ask me why that group supports me. " "Two governors for the price of one." Which Message Will Resonate with Voters?

Campaign 72 E I'm an alcoholic I'm going to die 3 weeks after the election Which Message Will Resonate With Voters?

Campaign '69 Sylvis Sylvi "Of course i will restore democracy and restore democracy and direct elections!" "Of course I will direct elections!" Which Message Will Resonate with Voters?

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About

Which Message Will Resonate With Voters? is an exploitable meme format based on a 1980 graphic by the satirical news publication The Onion. The template shows political candidates in an election, depicting one promising something reasonable and the other something horrible. It has been used in history meme communities and forums to joke about historical elections and by internet users to joke about the contrast between candidates in ongoing elections.

Origin

In its book _Our Dumb Century, The Onion posted a graphic satirizing the 1980 election between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. In the graphic, Carter's campaign message reads, "Let's Talk Better Mileage," while Reagan's reads "Kill the bastards." The tagline reads, "Which message will resonate with voters?" Reagan went on to win the 1980 U.S. Presidential Election.

The graphic first began circulating on Twitter / X in the late 2010s. For example, on October 1st, 2019, Twitter user @StephenSilver^[1] posted it as part of a thread outlining the Reagan-Carter election (shown below).

Spread

The format began seeing use as an exploitable on Reddit in the early 2020s. On August 15th, 2022, Redditor TrashClear483 posted a Political Compass meme using the image in the subreddit /r/politicalcompassmemes,^[2] gaining over 2,000 points in two years (shown below, left). On January 23rd, 2023, Redditor tygerbug posted a Star Wars joke with the template in /r/PrequelMemes,^[3] gaining over 1,700 points in 18 months (shown below, right).

Campaign '80 Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan "Let's Talk Better Mileage" "Kill the Bastards" Which Message Will Resonate with Voters? imgflip.com

Campaign ¹72 Mon Mothma Maarva Andor "Let's Talk Better Mileage" Which Message Will Resonate with Voters? "Kill the Bastards"

The template proved popular in /r/HistoryMemes, where it was used to satirize specific elections from history. For example, on June 8th, 2024, Redditor IllustriousDudeIDK^[4] posted a template to the subreddit parodying the 1832 Presidential election between Henry Clay and Andrew Jackson, gaining over 520 points in six weeks (shown below, left).

On July 24th, Twitter user @Aristos_Revenge^[5] posted a meme about Kamala Harris and Donald Trump using the template, gaining over 690 retweets and 13,000 likes in less than one day (shown below, right).