The biggest gain for Nicușor Dan from the presidential candidates’ debate on Thursday evening is the fact that he managed, for the first time, through an adaptation to a surprising situation for many, to project an image of a leader.
However much those who are aware of the danger mobilize, the debate of society - to which we were dispatched in the first days of the campaign instead of answering concrete and burning questions - does not win elections on its own.
Evidently, this change in tone and attitude of Nicușor Dan took George Simion by surprise, at least in the first minutes of the show. Taking advantage of this confusion, Nicușor Dan managed to score on an essential subject, one that might become decisive in this campaign - the economy.
It is very important that he managed to link the economic turmoil to George Simion, as a consequence of the chaos he projects for Romania.
Equally important is that, in the end, he pointed out the duplicity of George Simion, turning his change in tone towards more moderation, something pro-business, skating on the topics of Călin Georgescu and houses worth 35,000 euros, not reasons for reassurance, but, on the contrary, for alertness in the face of unpredictability and hypocrisy that even supporters of the AUR candidate should fear.
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Furthermore, of course, each candidate spoke for their electoral base, in their language. This is why each camp declared their favorite as the winner.
It was certainly a better debate, as I mentioned, for Nicușor Dan, but to be a winner, something needs to have happened that we cannot quantify yet. It would be necessary not only to have excited his already won supporters but also to have decisively mobilized new voters.
There are generally moderate people, not politically involved or who have become demobilized due to successive disappointments, inhibited by the stridency, needing predictability and calm. In the first round, they had no sympathies, were not captured by any candidate, and can only be brought to vote by their aversion to extremism and turmoil.
Has George Simion scared them enough to push them towards Nicușor Dan? It remains to be seen, a lot can happen in a week.
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But this effort to attract moderates is also a matter of correct dosage. And from this point of view, as we approach the presidential final, public debate becomes suffocating.
Both sides are radicalized to the maximum and run relentless, suffocating propaganda. On social networks, what should be debate and argumentation has turned into lynching. Anyone who does not have a different opinion but a doubt, a question mark, a hesitation is massacred by the majority as a traitor.
The language differs, the style differs, the mood and intelligence are similar. And this leads nowhere.
You don't mobilize someone by suppressing arguments or questions with scorn or labels. It is the surest way to push them into a spiral of silence, where they say what you say and do everything like you.
Someone wrote on Facebook after the debate: "when I look at Nicușor Dan, I feel like voting for him, but when I come across his supporters, I change my mind."
Of course, strong emotion drives people to vote. But not one that offends those who need to be convinced.