This ISN'T a countrywide popularity contest
Um, Of course it is. Jack Kennedy one in 60 because he looked better on TV than Nixon, nothing has changed since...
yup, i learned this in Journalism 101; in the radio broadcast of the Nixon-Kennedy debates, where people couldnt see the visuals people clearly thought Nixon was the winner.
in the tv debates, Nixon had bad makeup and sweated like a horse under the lights - and Kennedy looked calmer, but his answers were fluff and people thought, just based on appearances, that Kennedy had won.
that's when politicians learned to deliver bad news with a smile and a TON of US flags behind them. they knew the public was only watching the visual cues, and so, would not be so distressed if they smiled a lot and looked patriotic.
hence was born, the flag pin.