Charisma and Its Limits: Communication Styles in the 2024 Presidential Election

“Stories constitute the single most powerful weapon in a leader’s arsenal.” 
― Dr. Howard Gardner 

The way we tell stories may be an indicator of the way that we lead. There was a lot of analysis of Donald J. Trump and Kamala Harris’s verbal communication styles during the election. Adjectives like dynamic, grandiose, and informal were used in a study from the University of British Columbia (Ahmadian, Azarshahi, Paulhus) about Trump’s communication style during the first election. 

Kamala Harris, on the other hand, has been described as speaking with conviction, clarity, and occasional defensiveness. In an Associated Press Interview with Bill Barrow, Kathleen Hall Jamieson from the University of Pennsylvania said, “Harris makes deductive arguments but folds them into a broader narrative — the same way she would talk to jurors. […] She states a thesis and then follows with fact, fact, fact.” 

If you examined the websites of the two while candidates in America’s 2024 Presidential Election, you would've found a different way of telling a story and framing a call to action. On the homepage of Donald J. Trump’s website was this message. 

"THEY’RE NOT AFTER ME, 
THEY’RE AFTER YOU 
…I’M JUST STANDING 
IN THE WAY!” 

DONALD J. TRUMP, 45th President of the United States 

Source: Front page of the website on 10/30/24, donaldjtrump.com

The message was in all caps, positioned almost like poetry to be read with cadence and force. There’s an exclamation point and a message that appeals to fear of “they” and positions Trump as a steady figure between “you” and whoever is coming after you. 

If you looked at Democratic candidate Kamala Harris’s page, you would've found no message on the front page aside from a call to vote. To learn anything about Harris, in fact, one had to click on a page that invited a voter to meet her. There, they'd find this: 

Kamala Harris was raised in a middle-class family by a working mother who taught her to believe in the promise of America. 

Source: Front page of the website on 10/30/24, kamalaharris.com

Kamala Harris is introduced on the page as someone with a relatable backstory that positioned her as a candidate who was raised with values and believes in an idealistic future in America. It’s a message centered on hope and reliance that others will be invested in a personal story. 

How each candidate told their story may have reflected who they were as a politician, but their promises don't reflect how they'll lead. Max Weber, a German sociologist and political economist, spoke about charismatic authority being defined as someone with unwavering self-belief, unwavering commitment, vision, and ability to story-tell. 

While any political leader has to be charismatic to an extent, this election reminded us how charismatic authority can appear in communication styles. 

While voters studied these candidates (assuming they did), it would've been easy to look at the framing of the candidate’s leadership position and the emotional resonance of their message without dissecting the promises being made and agenda items, facts, nuances of those facts, or likelihood of an ability to fulfill said promises. And herein, we find the limits of charisma.

According to Weber’s research, leaders will only be charismatic to their base if their message is useful and emotionally resonant. Many followers are only as loyal as their circumstances and personal or direct community needs. We need to remember that charismatic authority is inherently unstable and reliant on the right conditions. Communication tools and techniques are just that. They do not guarantee action. 

The messages and methods of storytelling magic, if not authentic, will erode as conditions change and citizens look to candidates to fulfill their promises. After all, leaders are only as charismatic and effective as the circumstances they address. 

So while promises can be convincing, a victorious candidate's effectiveness in fulfilling their promises means adapting to meet the changing needs of those they serve. And according to the research, what’s charismatic to people today just might not be tomorrow.