This paper investigates the effects of desire-based framing on political attitudes in Belgium. Desire-based framing is characterised by rhetorical attributes of (i) lack (aspirational desire), (ii) fantasy (approaches to fulfil desire), and (iii) emotionality (emotional tone to accentuate desire). To assess which framing attributes influence the credibility and persuasiveness of an argument, I designed a vignette survey experiment, combining lack, fantasy, emotion, and factual argument to test their effectiveness on the issue of climate change, and implemented it on a sample of 1831 Flemish respondents. I report three main results: (1) a desire-based framing argument featuring lack, fantasy and emotion, is less credible than a factual argument and a mere emotional argument; (2) a desire-based framing argument featuring lack, fantasy and emotion, is less persuasive than a factual argument and a mere emotional argument; (3) Overall, arguments featuring emotion result in lower credibility and persuasiveness compared to the control group featuring a factual argument. This paper contributes to the ongoing debates on the role of emotions in politics, and the effectiveness of fact-based discourses in influencing political attitudes.