Left-wing cloud, nationalizing energy companies, not working with the far right: if you followed the news in recent weeks, it seemed like a national campaign. Yet we are going to the polls for the Provincial States. These local representatives in turn choose the new members for the First Chamber for the coming 4 years. And you would almost forget, but you can also cast your vote for the water boards. So it is not surprising that political parties are pulling out all the stops to win your vote. And now that the polls are open, it is a good time to look back: what happened during this campaign? And what can we learn from it?
The left cloud
The VVD kicked off the campaign with email list b2b a double interview with Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Edith Schippers, the VVD's top candidate in the Senate. In it, they portrayed the left-wing parties GroenLinks & PvdA (who are campaigning together in these elections) as "the left-wing cloud" that " will make a grab for your wallet by raising at least nine taxes ". In doing so, they opt for a frequently used campaign technique: creating a two-way street. In this way, these parties paint the picture to the voter that you only have two options to choose from. That is your own party that you want to belong to. And the group that you are opposing.
In this case, the VVD does this by saying that the left-wing cloud wants to increase taxes. The VVD has chosen the frame and consistently maintained it. This can also be seen in the much-discussed campaign video in which they oppose demonstrating farmers and climate activists: