Imagine you are selected as an advisor to a prospective presidential candidate deciding about whether or not to make a run in the 2020 election. Based on the readings and our lectures, what strategy would you recommend? You should assume that your candidate’s goal is to win the election (which entails winning both the party’s nomination AND the general election), so you should keep this in mind as you devise your strategy.
Contemporary politics, of both state and national level, not only deal with conventional notational and local issues, such as employment and healthcare, but also it has addressed challenges such as climate change, which is a global issue. However, the fact remains that most of the national politics revolves around national issues, such as economy and security; therefore, politicians put additional or extraordinary emphasis on these matters. For instance, President Obama’s campaign primarily based on 1) economic health of country, which was very bad at that time, and 2) Iraq/Afghanistan War, which was directly linked to the security, of United States. From systematically studying last three presidential campaigns, it becomes evident that national issues are of great concern for Americans, and they want to solutions of their national: challenges. From the last campaign, we learn that people are bit tired and frustrated with lobby politics. A large number, of Americans, have started to believe that large corporations have too much influence on the political system of United States. Therefore, it is imperative for presidential candidates to look more independent, which puts entire focus on Election Strategy.
American political system is two-party system (independents can run for the office) and it based on the concept of Separation of Power. Therefore, it is essential for President to have support of that political party that has majority in Senate and House of Representatives. Generally, when a candidate of political party wins presidential elections, it indicates that in both houses that political would perform good, making it easy for president or party to implement is policies (Aisch and Parlapiano 2017).
Winning Party Nomination
Before the Presidential Contest, comes phase of party nomination. For that a strategy should be devised that must be based on solution of those issues, which are relevant for the party voters (democrat base/republican base). In addition, a candidate must have full understanding regarding these issues. My suggestion would be thorough briefings on these subjects, so that the candidate can better present his/her narrative. Speaking of which, it is essential to develop a resonating narrative, which is hard to counter. President Barack Obama was able to devise a very effective narrative, which resonated with Democrats. Similarly, Bernie Sanders, who was actually an independent, was able to develop a very effective narrative, which resonated well with both millennials and democrat voter-base. In fact, many Republicans were also quite impressed of that narrative (Usagov 2017).
What issues should your candidate prioritize and what positions should he or she take on them?
Two similar categories of issues can be developed. One can be labeled as general issues, which affect all Americans equally and other set can be comprised of those issues, about which the voter-base is sensitive. For instance, issue of limited government is a very relevant issue among Republican voters; however, on the issue of Gay Marriage, both groups are sensitive.
I will suggest to prospective presidential candidate to address issues such as healthcare, employment, de-industrialization, personal/political freedom, equity, law, climate change, foreign policy and immigration. Of all these, the economy and immigration seem to be the most relevant issues. The political narrative should be in favor of soft immigration policy and minimum-wage, gender wage-gap, student loan and Afghanistan War (Rothschild 2017).
Soft Immigration policy will benefit United States in long-run, as it will intensify industrial activity and with more diversity, increased prosperity can be attained. Studies reveal that diversity has a positive correlation with progress.
Regarding Afghan War, the policy must be to withdraw troops, as United States is spending trillions and there is less hope than before of improving conditions in Afghanistan. In addition, pumping so much money in Afghanistan has created a war-economy. Another objective should be increasing the size and strength of the middle class, which can be achieved by ensuring a trickle-down effect on the economy. Wealth accumulation must be a concern, as it is affecting both the society and political-economic system.
Are there any groups the candidate should focus on mobilizing and getting to turn out on Election Day?
There are several groups which can be mobilized; however, it depends upon the issues that we are focusing on and the narrative regarding these issues. For instance, on immigration policy, different groups that either represent them or work closely with them can be engaged. In addition, there are several student groups, which are actively campaigning against student loans and politically engaged to make colleges and universities tuition free, can be engaged. It must be recognized that wealthiest nation in the history of the world, United States, must at least provide free education to its population, as it ensures long-term economic and social progress.
Other than these mentioned groups, different political bodies, of Veterans, are highly active. A political narrative regarding improving their economic conditions can produce a strong positive response across the political spectrum.
What sort of advertising strategy would you recommend (i.e., positive or negative? issue-oriented or personality-oriented) and why?
Advertisement is an instrument, which is very potent in American politics. Candidates spend hundreds of millions on their political campaigns, for party nomination or presidency. However, for any advertising campaign to be effective, it must be employed with great care. From the study of previous campaigns, of the last 15 years, it is evident that for a campaign to be effective it must be issue-oriented; however, an issue-oriented campaign can be positive or negative. For instance, the message, of Obama’s campaign, was Hope/Change, whereas President Trump and Bush Jr’s were based on fear (Holmes 2015).
Negative campaigns work when the economy is in depression. There is a positive correlation between right-wing politics, which is generally based on fear-mongering and economic crisis. As United States economy has started to resuscitate, there is an ample space for positive issue-oriented campaign. However, when we add personal Charisma, as was in case of JF Kennedy, Ronald Regan, Bill Clinton and Barrack Obama, advertisement campaign becomes more effective
What will be your candidate’s strategy for media coverage?
Considerable time must be invested on opposing platforms, as during the primary nomination, party voter-base has been convinced. However, this does not mean ignoring party voter-base. The message should go across different voter bases. The strategy for Democrat candidate should be to invest time on Fox to break opposing narrative. However, this would require serious preparation. The safe path would be propagating political narrative from familiar and friendly platforms. A Democrat Presidential Candidate propagating on his views on CNN and persuading undecided voters to vote him, completely ignoring another voter-base.
What sorts of challenges might your candidate face and how would you suggest he or she respond to them?
Politics is a dirty game and politicians love to dig out skeletons from the past. We saw that Hillary was badly hurt because as changed her stance far too many times. Her previous opinion regarding same-sex marriage hurt her. In addition, she seemed a candidate of corporate America, which reduced her advantage against Donald Trump. Therefore, the narrative must reflect your political history and you must seem an independent candidate, only concerned about Americans and not large corporations (Washington Post 2016).
References
Aisch, Gregor, and Alica Parlapiano. 2017. “What Do You Think Is the Most Important Problem Facing This Country Today?”Nytimes.com. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/02/27/us/politics/most-important-problem-gallup-polling-question.html.
Holmes, Jack. 2017.“President Obama, the ‘Hope and Change’ Guy, Criticizes Slogans.”Esquire.. http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a39393/president-obama-sloganeering/.
Rothschild, Mike. 2017. “Political Issues That Matter the Most Right Now.”Ranker. https://www.ranker.com/list/political-issues-that-matter-the-most/mike-rothschild.
Usagov. 2017.” Presidential Election Process.” Usa.Gov.. https://www.usa.gov/election.
Washington Post.2017. “Money Raised as of Dec. 31.” The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/2016-election/campaign-finance/.
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