(Source: MIRS.news, Published 10/01/2024) Political advertisements in the 2024 election cycle show that it’s not enough to call policies, places or politics “dangerous” anymore. Rather, it’s time to call politicians and people dangerous.

The Trump campaign has coined the phrase “dangerously liberal” to describe Democrats like Vice President Kamala Harris in its emails, fliers and ads. Make America Great Again, Inc. paid for an ad that is airing across the nation that calls her “still dangerously liberal, still dangerous for America.”

Sure, policies are called dangerous. A negative ad in Rep. Donni Steele (R-Lake Orion)’s district calls the party’s stance on abortion dangerous, or a positive ad for Rep. Angela Witwer (D-Lansing) said her work would keep dangerous criminals off the streets. 

Several ads that have aired in September call state representative candidates dangerous, like a negative ad against Jackson Mayor Daniel Mahoney uses alliteration to call him a “defund, dangerous, dishonest politician,” or Sen. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Bay City)'s record being called “dangerous and deadly for Michigan” in a Junge for Congress ad, or “Tom Barrett is dangerous” while “Tom Barrett is too dangerous for Mid-Michigan” shows on the screen, paid for by Hertel for Michigan through the month of September.

Josh Hovey, partner at Martin Waymire said “dangerous” is a new twist on a classic campaign tactic, which is to use “scare words” that strike up fear and motivate voters.

Based on research that campaigns conduct about words and phrases that work best at motivating voters, Hovey said fear is a motivator for a big portion of the electorate.

Hovey said there are some reasonable policies to use “dangerous” for, like when providing examples of women who died because they couldn’t receive reproductive health care or when undocumented immigrants commit violent crimes. But, when a word is over-used, it shifts the focus of what is dangerous from the policy to the person enacting it, he said.

“Is this one specific person who is championing this policy dangerous? Or is it the policy itself that needs to be looked at?” Hovey said, adding that labeling too many politicians as “dangerous” feeds into polarization.

As for voter apathy, Hovey said the more viewers see ads that use extreme language, the sooner they’ll tune in out. 

Bob Kolt, professor emeritus at Michigan State University said throwing the word “dangerous” around like candy will depress voter turnout rather than improve it, because he thinks it complicated the question of which candidate is less objectionable to the voter. 

“I think it’s dangerous that we’ve normalized the term ‘dangerous’,” Kolt said.

Kolt said it’s certainly not the first time he’s heard a political candidate call their opponent dangerous, but in the past, it was used sparingly.

“It’s not the first time it’s been used, it’s just the first time that it’s really been abused,” Kolt said.