Scott Adams, creator of the comic strip “Dilbert,” argued on his blog that the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia was “probably lowering testosterone levels all over the country.”
He said that the convention was stressing Hillary Clinton’s historic status as the first woman to win a major party nomination too much and that would hurt Democrats by alienating undecided male voters. He argued that the just-concluded convention was having a literal chemical effect on those men.
“I watched singer Alicia Keys perform her song ‘Superwoman’ at the convention and experienced a sinking feeling. I’m fairly certain my testosterone levels dropped as I watched, and that’s not even a little bit of an exaggeration. Science says men’s testosterone levels rise when they experience victory, and drop when they experience the opposite. I watched Keys tell the world that women are the answer to our problems. True or not, men were probably not feeling successful and victorious during her act,” Adams wrote.
He emphasized that “I am not kidding” about this and that “based on what I know about the human body, and the way our thoughts regulate our hormones, the Democratic National Convention is probably lowering testosterone levels all over the country. Literally, not figuratively.” He said there was a good chance that DNC’s just-concluded event would “be the first time in history that we see a candidate’s poll numbers plunge after a convention.”
Adams, best known for his comic strip’s wry observations about corporate culture and the white-collar professionals who work in it, has used his blog to extensively comment on the presidential election. He was among the first to take Donald Trump seriously as a candidate, predicting early in 2015 that he would win the Republican nomination.
The cartoonist has argued extensively that Trump, whom he calls a “master persuader,” has been much more astute in manipulating the media and framing issues in the campaign than he is given credit for. He explained his views in depth to the Washington Examiner in May. He has endorsed Clinton’s bid, arguing that as a California resident he had to “for my personal safety.”
More recently, Adams has said that the Clinton campaign has largely caught up to Trump in the persuasion game by labeling him a “crazy racist.” But he also believes the Democratic Party made an unforced error at the convention by stressing her historic status. In salesman-speak, they were “selling past the close,” he said, because most people already think there is no reason a woman cannot be president.
“Sales experts will tell you that once the sale is made, you need to stop selling, because you have no chance of making things better, but you might give the buyer a reason to change her mind,” Adams explained. “[President] Obama understood how to avoid selling past the close. At some point during Obama’s first presidential election campaign the country mentally agreed that an African-American could be their next president. So Obama accepted the sale and talked about other stuff. If he had dwelled on race, and his place in history, he would have risked making things worse. So he stayed quiet on race (mostly) and won. Twice.”
Clinton, by contrast, talked up her “first woman candidate” status. “If you’re already a Clinton supporter, it probably looks great all the way down. But if you’re an undecided voter, and male, you’re seeing something different. You’re seeing a celebration that your role in society is permanently diminished,” Adams said.
