Communications Lessons from the US Presidential Election
Today’s the day.
Throughout the 2016 presidential election we have seen many stories unfold, and we have learned key lessons from the candidates and their teams, sometimes what to do and other times what not to do.
The 140 character candidate
The 2016 race to the White House has seen memes and hashtags being central to strategy. Social media, for better or for worse, has shaped this presidential election. We have seen the rise of Ken Bone, the fall of Jeb Bush and his Photoshop team. Birdie Sanders flew in from nowhere and Hillary had a mic drop moment or two. Social media has been key to reaching voters, monitoring popularity and testing techniques.
“Those Damn Emails”
Emails, emails, emails.
The word that seems to have haunted Hillary’s race to the White House. We have been taken on a rollercoaster with Clinton, the FBI and her email server. The issue took on new life when the FBI announced just 11 days before the election that it was investigating whether there is classified information in newly discovered emails. The rollercoaster can now be parked as the FBI have restated that there will be no charges.
The emails have been a golden ticket for team Trump who called it “bigger than Watergate” and seemed to use them as Lorem Ipsum any time he has been asked an awkward question.
“She doesn’t have the look.”
Health has always been a major factor in presidential campaigns, JFK hid his illness throughout his presidential campaign and during his presidency people had no idea how sick he really was.
Any illness is seen as a weakness, so when Hillary Clinton had a pneumonia, Trump saw the presidency within his grasp and commented that she didn’t have the stamina. Hillary fought back with, “Well, as soon as he travels to 112 countries and negotiates a peace deal, a cease-fire, a release of dissidents, an opening of new opportunities in nations around the world, or even spends 11 hours testifying in front of a congressional committee, he can talk to me about stamina.”
A stellar reply from Hillary, however the seeds of doubt may have already been sown in some voters’ minds. When running for President of the United States your health, really is your wealth.
The classic Shakespearean tragedy
In a recent interview with the BBC, Brian Cranston of Breaking Bad notoriety, said that Donald Trump fascinates him. He compared him to a tragic Shakespearean character. Trump talks about how everything in the world is horrible, and yet provides no solutions, but it will be great and huge. He is unlike anyone we have ever seen before.
Feel the Bern
Although Bernie Sanders seems like a happy distant memory, it provides an interesting lesson in communications to this day. Sanders rarely spoke about himself, instead he made the narrative about the voters. He spoke about the hardship they faced whether it be healthcare, jobs or tuition. This forced a close bond between him and his voters- particularly the younger demographic. He went from Bernie Who? to Bernie with 100,000 people attending his rallies.
The youth vote is important, it worked out well for Obama. It also helps that you have some of the best creative minds behind you, and those with a little more time on their hands. Having young, creative people as supporters resulted in some of the most imaginative collateral like the Feel the Bern movement and the Birdie Sanderstwitter phenomenon.
America wasn’t ready to feel the Bern, but the fact a socialist got as far as he did, was a lesson in storytelling.
Freedom of speech V harassment
This presidential campaign is highly emotive which has sparked people to share their opinions and values now, more than ever. However we have seen the lines between freedom of speech and harassment become very blurry. We have heard Donald Trump bellow “Get him outta here” one too many times at his rallies about protesters.
A Trump supporter at a recent rally held by Obama in North Carolina seemed to get a lot of negative attention from the crowd. The President reminded his supporters that “we live in a country that respects free speech,” he also asked them to support the man who was dressed like a veteran.
The campaign has seen both candidates and supporters lose themselves somewhere along the line between freedom of speech and harassment.
A dark day for democracy
Political experts and voters cannot believe that the American people have found themselves in a position where they don’t have confidence in either candidate.
If this wasn’t a worrying enough situation for politics, people are now losing faith in the voting process. Trump claimed that if he didn’t win the presidency then the race must be rigged, many laughed this off as him and his brattish attitude, however this has indeed cast doubt among voters. Only half of Republicans say they would accept Clinton as their president, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, and nearly 70 percent said a Clinton victory would be because of illegal voting or other mischief.
Whether Trump is just playing the spoilt brat card or is indeed scare mongering the masses, it seems to be working.
This has been one exciting race to the white house, with many hurdles along the way. As for who, or what, may be in store for us, your guess is as good as mine.
