A good presidential campaign slogan has the potential to not only to define and win elections, it can also become a the slogan for an entire era or generation. Here’s a look back at the Top 10 Presidential Campaign Slogans of All Time.
10. “Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Speech, Free Men, Frémont, and Victory” – John Frémont (1856)
This slogan doesn’t leave any doubt where the Republican Party’s first presidential nominee stood on the issues. Frémont ended up losing the election to James Buchanan. However, Abraham Lincoln became the nation’s first Republican president just four years later by running on a similar anti-slavery platform.
9. “A Chicken in Every Pot and a Car in Every Garage” – Herbert Hoover (1928)
Hoover was successfully elected President after promising prosperity under his Republican administration. Unfortunately, the Great Depression kept most pots and garages empty, resulting in an electoral blowout for Franklin Roosevelt four years later.
8. “We Polked you in ’44, we shall Pierce you in ‘52” – Franklin Pierce (1852)
Pierce was one of America’s least effective Presidents, but Pierce’s supporters broke new ground in the world of political puns. Like President James Polk in 1844, the Democratic Party nominee hoped to defeat the Whig Party rival. It is unlikely presidential names will ever again allow for such a poetic slogan.
7. “Ma, Ma, Where’s my Pa” – James Blaine (1884)
Failed presidential candidate James Blaine’s supporters frequently repeated this catchy slogan to poke fun of rumors that his opponent Grover Cleveland had fathered an illegitimate child. After winning the election, Cleveland supporters added, “Gone to the White House, Ha, Ha, Ha” to the slogan. To their credit, Cleveland supporters also came up with another alliterative masterpiece: “Blaine, Blaine, James G. Blaine, the Continental Liar from the State of Maine.”
6. “Change We Can Believe In” – Barack Obama (2008)
It’s hard to deny that Obama’s campaign rallying cry was remarkably effective in capitalizing on Americans’ dissatisfaction with the George W. Bush Presidency and a quickly deteriorating economy. But much to the chagrin of many Americans, Obama didn’t change many of the policies he campaigned against.
5. “A Return to Normalcy” – Warren Harding (1920)
Following a World War and aggressive progressive reforms by President Woodrow Wilson, Harding won a landslide victory in 1920 by promising a return to traditional American ideals. In his “return to normalcy” speech, Harding famously proclaimed, “The problems of maintained civilization are not to be solved by a transfer of responsibility from citizenship to government.”
4. “The Stakes are Too High for You to Stay at Home” – Lyndon Johnson (1964)
Johnson won 61 percent of the popular vote in 1964 by successfully convincing Americans that electing conservative icon Barry Goldwater would doom the world to nuclear war. Johnson’s famous “Daisy” ad is still considered one of the most effective political ads of all time. Americans were fortunate to avoid nuclear war under Johnson, but not a 500,000 troop escalation in Vietnam.
3. “It’s Morning Again in America Again” – Ronald Reagan (1984)
Reagan cruised to victory in 1984 by campaigning on America’s renewed prosperity under his first four years in office. Reports are that President Obama’s campaign team had initially hoped to be able to repeat Reagan’s ’84 re-election mantra, but the economy hasn’t been cooperative.
2. “Don’t Swap Horses in Midstream” – Abraham Lincoln (1864)
Despite personally believing he would be defeated by his former general, George McClellan, Lincoln’s supporters successfully mobilized Republicans and pro-war Democrats with this familiar slogan to win re-election during the Civil War. Other successfully re-elected wartime presidents, such as Franklin Roosevelt and George W. Bush, borrowed the slogan in various forms.
1. “Are You Better Off than You Were Four Years Ago?” – Ronald Reagan (1980)
During the second presidential debate held just a week before the election, Reagan hit a home run during his closing remarks with this now famous, and devastatingly effective, question. President Carter had a narrow lead in the polls going into the debate, but a week later Reagan won in a landslide. This slogan has since become a popular manta for presidential candidates of both parties.
