Off Limit Analysis

President Obama not only was the first African American to be elected, but was also the first presidential candidate to effectively use social media as a major campaign strategy. In many ways the election of Barack Obama mimicked that of John F. Kennedy, both having changed politics forever. For John F. Kennedy it was the television and for Obama it was the internet. Barack Obama’s strategy of using the internet as a campaigning tool was a key to his victory in the election. He used the internet to organize his supporters. He had many more friends and followers on his Facebook and Twitter than his opponent John McCain did. The social media landscape looks a lot different now. There has been an increasing number of social media tools now than there were

b) Two ways in which the candidates have used the media for campaigning are media events and talking heads. Media events are events made by the candidate so that the media can cover it. This benefits the candidate because he or she is able to state their ideologies and views on certain issues, which can help increase the amount of voters and supporters. Talking head is basically a way for the candidate to talk to the public about his views and can try to convince the people to vote for him or her.

FIrst I interviewed a friend of mine named Gerson Diniz that i've known for couple of years now. He is 20 years old who is a student in college majoring in Political science, and he is a Donald Trump supporter. My first question to Gerson was “Why are you voting for Donald Trump?”, his response was, “I guess if he becomes president his cabinet wouldn't let him do all the crazy things he says, but he would still make a difference”. My next question was “I

Advertisements surround every American; whether it be a TV commercial for car, or a billboard for a resort “10 miles ahead.” American society has adapted to a society that sends messages to gain trust in products based on how it is advertised. Similar to U.S.’ capitalist society, the political system has become dependent on advertisements to instill trust in the people for candidates. President Franklin D. Roosevelt built his presidency on informing the public on his political strategies through the use of public radio (Walsh). In the 1952 presidential race, Dwight Eisenhower promoted his campaign by creating political advertisements on TV (Fowler, Franz, Ridout). Since then, not only have radio and TV advertisements been a defining aspect of presidential elections, but also, social media, a more modern avenue for politicians. This has become one of the most effective campaigning strategies in modern day elections. President Obama’s 2008 presidential race is one of the most significant examples. Obama made history by taking advantage of the social media outlet and successfully reaching audiences who previously were not targeted by the previous standard tactics. Historically, Presidential candidates have gained dependence on using advertisements and social media to promote their platform and qualifications of becoming president. Today, there is an increasing necessity to master these campaign strategies in order to communicate effectively with the American citizens.

One of the customs of Presidential elections is the debates held between the candidates prior to that event. The topics discussed in these debates are of controversial nature and their role is to target and convince undecided and independent voters - those not belonging to a specific political party.

Prospective candidates that achieve financial assistance become attractive enough to the media, allowing for the presidential campaign to expand. However, the 2016 presidential election includes a surgeon, a former First Lady, and a business magnate/reality star. Gaining financial support? Not that big of a deal. Which makes obtaining positive media (or any media, at all), the primary and most critical component of the campaign.

The majority of voters do not appreciate negative advertisements and might refuse to vote for Edwards. Voters must decide for themselves whether a political advertisement is helpful in their choice to vote. Although ads can be negative, they can also provide meaningful information about a candidate’s history as a politician. A negative ad can be constructive and informative when it informs the voters of an opponent’s number of absences from previous political jobs, abuses of financial spending of taxpayers’ money, or even past affiliation with well-known groups and organizations. A voter should know if a candidate who previously held another office was present for important parts of that job or wasted public money while in office. Voters should educate themselves as to what groups the candidates were previously associated. Candidates will not admit to being lazy or absent from their prior political post, nor will they admit that they used an expense account to take lavish vacations. Candidates do not want voters to know about their membership in, donations from, or affiliations with organizations that might be disreputable. Their commercials put only the candidate’s best face forward, and therefore, there are occasions when the disclosure of their mistakes through an opponent’s negative ad can be helpful. However, this particular ad is referred to as political “mud-slinging.” The ad does not offer any

Political scientist, journalists, and politicians alike often discuss the role of the news media’s place in affecting campaigns, and voter perceptions. Claims of media bias in political news coverage have risen over the past two decades. Scholarly research has explored concerns that broadcast and print media shape voting decisions in democratic processes.

When politicians first begin to run they usually always a website that they have created to show their accomplishments, but every website has an option to get money out of their followers. The candidates can do this by just having the option to donate or by buying merchandise that has been endorsed by whichever candidate. When you go to either Ted Cruz’s or Donald Trump’s website the first thing you see is the option to contribute to their campaign,

“Twenty-first-century election campaigns are structure to garner the most favorable media exposure reaching the largest number of prospective supporters, with the greatest degree of candidate control over the message”. (Dunaway & Graber 2009. Pg. 315) Media in regards to political advertising is much more narrower. Some candidates are primarily interested in voters who preference the outcome of the race instead of the process of the election. A great example is President Obama in 2008, had little interest in any media markets in California because he expected to win by a comfortable

In modern industrialized democracies, the broadcast media reach virtually all adults and provide a national forum for candidate and political parties. (Iyengar 19) Media systems today do this so much that they become repetitive and sometimes annoying to viewers. During the presidential campaign there is a lot of media time given to the candidates through debates, interviews, other outlets, and their own advertisements that they pay for themselves. I am fully aware that our country needs to be involved and notified of political events as they currently happen but recently there has been major coverage each day about small things. For example, if a candidate is just out around or doing something that we have already seen then it should not be

In an effort to control mentioning of Donald Trump, close examination of popular media outlets with large audiences will enable the campaign to see changes to rhetoric or schedule of statement releases (there are, on average, over 200,000 mentions every month). (Politico Staff, 2016) Campaign staff as well as Trump himself will be speaking with media in a manner that promotes a tight hold on delegates over the course of the election. Rallies will require significant control efforts because of protesters. Press conferences will enable the campaign to release accurate information at appropriate times. This helps keep information circulating in the public to be favorable. Social media is now a substantial part of elections. Releasing information and ads on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube will generate needed feedback from audiences. Resources will be allocated to these sources of information because it is the most effective way of controlling what information flows around in the public, thus allowing the campaign to have a good amount of control on publicity and media coverage.

In campaigning, media coverage plays a large role for candidates. They use the media to make their name heard and image seen. “Nearly everything a candidate does is geared toward the media, especially television” (Stuckey, 1999, p. 99) Candidates make appearances on talk shows,

Social media has grown at phenomenal rates over the past decade, with its rise being easily visible in several fields such as publishing, business, and activism, among others. The rise of its use in the field of politics is well known by those who are on and off social media, as a result of increasing number of politicians using this global platform to their maximum advantage.

Political candidates are aware of how the news, especially during elections, publicize candidates. Political candidates try to get the attention of the media because the more they get their name mentioned, the more likely voters are to research the candidate. There is a direct correlation between the amounts of times a candidate is mentioned in the news and how well they poll (Stray, How Much Influence Does the Media). Additionally, media corporations want to supply consumers with the news that they want to see. In an interview with Leslie Moonves, the CBS chairman, stated that Trump as a president may not be the best candidate for America, but that he is great for CBS’s profits (Collins, Les Moonves: Trump’s Run). This shows how media corporations want to display the news that consumers are most interested in; at the time there was a huge interest in Trump being a candidate in the election. This affects democracy because news corporations are mainly interested in trying to gain the most viewers in order to gain the most advertising revenue or to sell the most copies of newspapers. Rather than show the news or political issues that may be the most important. This can especially be seen at the local level,