Here's who came up with "Are You Better Off Than You Were Four Years Ago?"
With the first political convention of the summer being held July 15-18, we test your knowledge of candidate slogans of today and the past.
Every politician tries to boil down their hundreds of promises and long speeches into one succinct slogan.
The first campaign to use advertising and slogans was William Henry Harrison in 1840 who used, “Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too!” The slogan referred to Harrison’s status as a war hero in the 1811 Tecumseh’s War and his running mate John Tyler. Harrison won in a landslide.
Here’s a quiz to see how much you know about political mottos.
One of the first campaigns to make good use of slogans on bumper stickers was “I like Ike” for the 1952 election of Dwight D. Eisenhower. The stickers began to appear around the country before the five-star general left the military, joined a party and announced his run for president.
Eisenhower’s landslide victory ended the 20-year run of Democrats in the White House. Which of the following three slogans was not used by Democrat opponent Adlai Stevenson in the race?
A) All the Way with Adlai
B) Peace and Prosperity
C) Go Forward with Stevenson-Sparkman
Answer: B. “Peace and Prosperity” was Eisenhower’s slogan in the next election, which he also won against Stevenson.
One of several of Ronald Reagan’s 1980 campaign slogans was “Let’s Make America Great Again,” which is similar to Republican President Donald Trump’s slogan in 2016, 2020 and 2024. Reagan won the election in a landslide victory. What was incumbent President Jimmy Carter’s slogan?
A) A peanut in every pot
B) Re-elect Carter-Mondale, A Tested and Trustworthy Team
C) For the Future
D) He’s making us proud again
Answer: B.
The other slogans are from (C) Richard Nixon in 1960 and (D) Gerald Ford in 1976.
What is the slogan of the Biden/Harris campaign this year?
A) Finish the Job
B) Because the Truth Matters
C) For America
D) Faith in America
Answer: A. The other slogans are from other candidates that dropped out. B) Chris Christie, C) Will Hurd, D) Tim Scott
Which was one of Biden’s slogans in 2020?
A) Stronger Together
B) Our Best Days Still Lie Ahead
C) Love Trumps Hate
Answer: B.
The others were from Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. Biden had several other slogans including, “No Malarkey!” and “Restore the Soul of The Nation.”
What 2024 candidate had the slogan, “Too Honest”?
A) Nikki Haley
B) Mike Pence
C) Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
D) Ron DeSantis
Answer: B.
Pence also used, “I Like Mike,” which was used by Michael Bloomberg in 2020.
Match the candidate to the campaign slogan:
A) Real plans for real people
B) Prosperity and progress
C) Forward
D) The better man for a better America
E) Believe in America
F) I’m With Her
G) In Your Heart, You Know He’s Right
H) In Your Guts, You Know He’s Nuts
Answers:
Bob Dole, D – 1996
Barack Obama, C – 2012
George W. Bush, A – 2000
Al Gore, B – 2000
Mitt Romney, E – 2012
Hillary Clinton, F – 2016
Barry Goldwater, G – 1964
Lyndon B. Johnson, H – 1964 (in response to Goldwater’s slogan)
Whose presidential campaign used the slogan, “Are You Better Off Than You Were Four Years Ago?”
A) Abraham Lincoln
B) Ronald Reagan
C) John F. Kennedy
D) Woodrow Wilson
Answer: B.
Reagan used the slogan in the 1980 election after America experienced low economic growth in the 1970s. Reagan carried 44 states and won the Electoral College 489-49.
Whose presidential campaign was the first to use the slogan, “Don’t Swap Horses in the Middle of The Stream”?
A) Abraham Lincoln
B) Jimmy Carter
C) John F. Kennedy
D) Herbert Hoover
Answer: A.
With the end of the Civil War looming, Lincoln’s 1864 reelection campaign wanted to encourage voters to stay the course. Franklin D. Roosevelt used the same slogan in 1944 running for his fourth term.
Campaign buttons have been around since George Washington but Lincoln was the first president to use them strategically as a campaign tool in the 1860 presidential election.
Whose 1884 presidential campaign used the slogan, “Ma, Ma, Where’s My Pa? Gone to the White House, Ha, Ha, Ha!”
A) James G. Blaine
B) Grover Cleveland
C) Benjamin Harrison
D) William McKinley
Answer: A.
Scandal is nothing new in politics. Grover Cleveland’s campaign was marred by an allegation that he fathered an illegitimate child, which incited the slogan “Ma, Ma, Where’s my Pa? Gone to the White House, Ha, Ha, Ha!” It should be noted that Cleveland used his own clever slogan during his campaign to refer to his opponent’s alleged unethical business dealings within the railroad industry, “Blaine, Blaine, James G. Blaine, The Continental Liar From the State of Maine.”
Whose presidential campaign used the slogan, “A Chicken in Every Pot and a Car in Every Garage”?
A) Herbert Hoover
B) Franklin D. Roosevelt
C) Harry S. Truman
D) Calvin Coolidge
Answer: A.
The economy was booming and Hoover used the slogan to define his 1928 presidential campaign. However, the 1929 stock market crash sunk the global economy and left Hoover’s campaign promise empty.
Whose presidential campaign used the slogan, “It’s the economy, stupid”?
A) Robert J. Dole
B) Bill Clinton
C) Barack Obama
D) John F. Kennedy
Answer: B.
Clinton’s campaign strategist James Carville coined the phrase. It became the de facto slogan for the 1992 campaign. Other slogans were, “For America, for the People” and “It’s Time to fix America.”
Test score: More than three correct answers: front-runner. Three or fewer correct answers: lame duck.
Presidential candidates try to keep their slogans clean and positive, but if you’ve been offended by what their supporters may have on their cars, there’s not a lot you can do about it.
“For those citizens without wealth or power, a bumper sticker may be one of the few means available to convey a message to a public audience.”
— Judge Myron H. Thompson in Baker v. Glover, a 1991 case in Alabama where a truck driver was cited for having a sticker with language that violated the state’s obscenity law.
The sticker in question said, “How’s My Driving? Call 1-800-EAT SH**!” Expletive deleted.
Sources: PresidentsUSA.net, First Amendment Center, The Byline Group, Presidential Campaigns & Elections Reference, Concordia University, Ballotpedia.org, National Park Service
