A Values-Based Communications Strategy
Summary
This memo lays out a framework for communicating the impact of the Trump Administration’s onslaught of actions and policies using a values-based approach. This strategy is focused on using real-life examples of how the president’s actions are negatively impacting Americans. This framework can be applied and adapted to any issue area and used by any stakeholder.
Values-Based Messaging
A recent study of young voters showed that integrity and authenticity are the top two characteristics they look for in leaders. They can smell inauthenticity on a person, and they are immediately turned off by the stench. It is one of the main reasons Donald Trump is currently our president. People look at him and do not see a person who is media-trained and coached. His policy positions are inconsistent and incoherent, but they are always grounded in a common set of values that Donald Trump believes in and can authentically communicate in any setting.
Polling during the election showed that voters favored Vice President Harris’s over President Trump on being “well-informed” (52%-49%), “honest” (47%-39%), and “being a role model” (53%-34%), but the one area President Trump overtook Harris was on “stands up for what they believe in” (69%-60%).
The values of Donald Trump can be summed up as:
- Toughness - Donald Trump will fight for you and destroy your enemies.
- Strength - Donald Trump is strong and he will make America strong.
- Decisiveness - Donald Trump will take action right now to make you safe and wealthy.
“Signals of group commitments, in particular, reveal the kind of society a candidate wishes to bring about and their allegiance to it, thus striking at the core set of concerns that arguably mobilize political participation in the first place.”
Research out of the United Kingdom shows that a voter’s preferences and policy stances often flow from an affiliation with a candidate’s values—specifically their orientation towards authoritarianism and egalitarianism. Simply, people are highly attuned to leaders who speak in a language that connects with their attitudes about society, and less with specific policies or desired outcomes.
Combined, you see why Donald Trump is an effective messenger to voters. Voters see him as authentic, that he will fight for what he believes in, and his messaging is based on a small set of simple values that connect with voters’ fundamental beliefs about society.
Values-Based Messaging - How You Should Use It
Donald Trump does not have a monopoly on political messaging based on authentically-held values. The key point is that our message and messaging must be based in values that the speaker or organization holds deeply.. Messages cannot be seen as poll-tested or outsourced to communications firms; they must come directly from the reason why you are doing the work.
Identifying Values
First, we have to identify three deeply held values to build a message around. Why three? It is hard for humans to remember four things and two makes it seem like you couldn’t think of a third. The ‘Rule of Three’ is a millennia-old story telling structure reflected throughout political messaging (e.g Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness or Liberté, égalité, fraternité).
We start by asking a series of questions:
- What are the values my organization or I hold deeply? Why do we do the work we are engaged in every day?
- Does the broader group of membership, paid staff, donors, and/or voter base hold these same values?
- If there is space between 1 and 2, why? Is there an actual difference? Or can you use language that will better speak to the shared values of the broader group across this perceived gap?
Values-Based Messaging: An Example
An environmental advocacy group is campaigning against a federally-authorized coal-fired power plant in a community heavily reliant on coal mining for its economy. The group wants to convince residents that transitioning to renewable energy sources is beneficial for both the environment and the local economy.
Identifying Core Values: The environmental group identifies three core values that resonate with their mission: Sustainability, Adaptability, and Community Well-Being. These values reflect their commitment to protecting the environment and fighting climate change while also promoting health and well-being for the community.
Understanding the Audience: Through community outreach and dialogue, the group learns that many residents prioritize job security and economic stability over environmental concerns. They also discover that many residents feel a strong sense of pride in their community and its history of coal mining.
Adapting the Message: To bridge the gap between their values and those of the community members, the environmental group focuses on highlighting how transitioning to renewable energy can lead to new job creation in areas like solar panel installation and maintenance, wind turbine manufacturing, and energy storage. They also emphasize how investing in renewable energy will bring jobs to the local economy and reduce reliance on a single industry, making it more resilient to fluctuations in coal prices and demand. Finally, they stress that protecting the environment is essential for ensuring the long-term health and well-being of the community, including its children and future generations, while protecting the local environment for hunting.
Their new values are: Prosperity, Hard Work, and Health.
Examples of Values-Based Messaging
In March, 2025, Congress heard testimony from four mayors that represent “sanctuary cities” regarding the impact of immigration policies on their hometowns. The mayors faced an often hostile committee focused on using the hearing to generate media clips, not find solutions to the country’s long-broken immigration system.
Each mayor approached their opening remarks differently:
- New York Mayor Eric Adams spoke mostly about public safety,
- Denver Mayor Mike Johnston built his remarks around his faith and problem-solving approach to leadership,
- Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson spoke in the language of the fight for social justice,
- Boston Mayor Michelle Wu leaned into a message that all are welcome in Boston.
We will pull out three parts of Denver’s Mayor Johnston’s written and spoken remarks to showcase the effective use of values-based messaging in a hostile environment.
As mayor I have to protect the health and safety of everyone in our city. As a man a faith, I have a moral obligation to care for those in need As scripture says, I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me in. So that is what we did.
Value: Compassion + Religious Faith
Impact: Leaning into his Christian faith, Mayor Johnston quoted from the parable of “The Sheep and the Goats,” wherein Christians are judged based on their acts of compassion towards those in need.
Leaning into this value allows Johnston to connect with compassionate people across partisan divides who share similar religious beliefs.
“Denverites believe that our problems are solvable, and we are the ones to solve them. So we took action, leaning into our values and developing a strategy to maintain public safety and the services that our residents expect and deserve, while also treating every individual in our community with compassion.”
Value: Solutions-oriented
Impact: Johnston framed Denver’s work in response to the influx of 42,000 asylum seekers as a normal part of Denver’s innate problem-solving orientation.
This allowed Johnston to continually refer back to this value asa reason why the city stepped up and left the door open for feedback and new ideas, if provided in good faith.
“America is not just a place, it is a belief. Some people are born into it; some fight their whole life to get to it. It is the belief that all are created equal and it doesn’t matter where you came from if you are willing to fight hard enough.”
Value: Dedication/Hard Work
Impact: Johnston frames his city’s response as in-line with American values of equal opportunity and hard work. He goes on to tell a story about a Denver police officer who immigrated here as a child from Mexico andwho died in pursuit of a violent criminal.
This framing allows Johnson to pivot attacks on immigrants to a story about the positive impact immigrants have on communities—including how their work contributes to improving public safety, a key concern for committee members.
Concluding Thoughts
The pace of today’s news cycles often outstrips the capacity of even the most nimble organization or institution to develop an honest, impactful response to a crisis. From my own work, I know how easy it is to be caught flat-footed with messaging in the midst of a crisis. This is a byproduct of our media environment: it impacts everyone, and it is not going to change anytime soon.
A values-based approach to messaging will allow your organization or institution to quickly develop talking points because the majority of the work is already done. You are not starting from zero every time a new crisis emerges.
Developing these messages can be done in-house, especially for organizations with strong leadership and an already established clear vision for their work.
Still, engaging in values-driven work can create a bubble that leaves leaders and organizations ignorant of how their messaging is landing with a broader audience. Hiring a third party can help an organization maintain the perspective necessary to bridge the difference between their deeply held values and those of their audience without walking away from their beliefs.
What This is Not
This is not advice to rely on specific facts or policies. Voters have demonstrated time and time again that they will vote against their own self-interests in favor of appeals to their values.
During the 2024 campaign, Vice President Harris changed her initial messaging grounded in “freedom” - the freedom from poverty, freedom from gun violence, and the freedom to make decisions about your own body. The freedom theme was a unifying message that allowed her to tie together the planks of her campaign, and it led to a massive fundraising haul and an energized party convention.
As the campaign moved into the fall, Harris’s messaging on the stump, interviews, and debates became much more narrow. Pushed by consultants and the political press for more detailed proposals, she dropped the freedom focus and landed on a set of policies she would enact in office - a $6,000 tax cut for families, a $50,000 tax credit for new businesses, and down payment support for first-time homeowners. Gone was “freedom,” and in was “the opportunity economy.” That shift aligned with a shift in polls that showed voter interest shifting back to Trump during the Fall.