A positive view of America’s future always is the better approach, one of hope and confidence, and we have had American Presidents who have campaigned on that theme.
Franklin D. Roosevelt did such in 1932.
Ronald Reagan did such in 1980
Barack Obama did such in 2008.
On the other hand, we have had Presidents who did just the opposite, promoted gloom, doom, and fear.
Herbert Hoover was very negative in 1932.
Richard Nixon was very negative in 1968.
And now, Donald Trump is doing such in 2016.
As with FDR, Reagan, and Obama, the result was victory.
And with Hoover and Nixon, their rating in history is very low.
And, well, with Donald Trump, he will go down as the most disastrous Presidential nominee in all of American history, even though he will not lose 49 states, as George McGovern in 1972 or Walter Mondale did in 1984, or 46 states as Alf Landon did in 1936. The number of states lost does not matter, as all three campaigned with dignity, something impossible of achievement by Donald Trump.