Campaign Ads: Trump's "Nonsense" v. Harris's "Both Wrong"

 


Today I will be examining the most recent campaign ads posted on the YouTube pages of the Trump Campaign and the Harris Campaign. 

Trump's latest campaign ad is titled "Nonsense".


This ad states:
  • Harris supports taxpayer-funded sex changes for prisoners.
  • This is hard to believe but it's true.
  • The liberal media is also shocked by this.
  • "Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you"
Analysis of the ad:
    The acceptance of transgender people is a very partisan issue. According to the Pew Research Center, 54% of people who are or lean Republican feel that the acceptance of transgender people is very/somewhat bad for society. Comparatively, only 13% of people who are or lean Democrat report that the acceptance of transgender people is very/somewhat bad for society. 
    It seems that this ad is targeted towards those already identifying as Republicans. This ad may be an attempt to push those with a conservative viewpoint to register to vote or to mobilize Trump supporters. The ad highlights a stance held by Harris that conflicts with the viewpoint of many Republicans. 
    I'm curious to know if this ad has the potential to cause the opposite effect of what it intends. I wonder if undecided voters who support transgender rights may view this ad and feel compelled to vote for Harris. This is probably unlikely, but still interesting to consider. 
    Additionally, I wonder how this ad affects transgender people who identify as Republicans. According to the KFF/The Washington Post Trans Survey, while most transgender people identify as Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents, one in seven transgender adults say they are Republican. It's interesting to consider whether an ad like this would have an effect on the political leaning of transgender people. 

Harris's latest campaign ad is titled "Both Wrong".


This ad states:
  • Donald Trump's views on Mark Robinson:
    • Robinson has been an unbelievable lieutenant governor. 
    • "I think you're better than Martin Luther King"
    • "I've been with him a lot, I've gotten to know him and he's outstanding".
  • This is intercut with anti-abortion comments made by Mark Robinson.
  • Donald Trump and Mark Robinson are both wrong for North Carolina.
Analysis of the ad:
    This ad highlights how Mark Robinson is against abortion and how Donald Trump is supportive of Robinson. Abortion is an issue with a sharp partisan divide. According to the Pew Research Center, 41% of Republicans or those who lean Republican state that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. This is compared to 85% of Democrats who say that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. 
    It seems that this ad is targeted towards those who already identify as or lean Democrat. This ad may push those with a liberal viewpoint to register to vote and mobilize Harris supporters. As many Democrats feel strongly about protecting abortion rights, this ad makes Trump seem like a threat. 
    In addition to Robinson's stance on abortion, he has also been in the news recently regarding some alleged comments on a pornography website’s message board. These comments, allegedly made by Robinson over a decade ago, were uncovered by a CNN KFile investigation. Due to this, it seems that Harris's ad may be an attempt to link Trump with another controversial politician. 

Sources:
https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/19/politics/kfile-mark-robinson-black-nazi-pro-slavery-porn-forum/index.html
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/fact-sheet/public-opinion-on-abortion/
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/02/11/deep-partisan-divide-on-whether-greater-acceptance-of-transgender-people-is-good-for-society/
https://www.kff.org/report-section/kff-the-washington-post-trans-survey-trans-in-america/





Comments

  1. Sean OBrienSeptember 24, 2024 at 1:34 PM

    I think that with this style of campaigning there is a certain risk and reward that needs to be calculated. There is not some end all be all add that will make every single person happy so there has to be a line drawn I believe on what audience you target. Depending on what source you use the number of transgenders in America is somewhere between 0.6-2.0%. If only 1 in 7 transgenders are already fans of Trump then even if he angered all of them enough that they would not vote for him because of this ad it really would not do too much because it is such a small group of people. Now the number of people who are in support of the Trans community is much higher and maybe that was a population more effected.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Red Penguin PoliticsSeptember 24, 2024 at 11:39 PM

    I really like that you analyzed both of these ads because it shows the state of American politics. Blind trust is commonplace and opinion has replaced truth. There is such an inability to see the truth nowadays it’s painful to see. Looking at your analysis the general view I get from it is that it shows that there is always some truth towards these kinds of advertisements but, there is also some bias and some little adjustments done in order to give a certain portrayal of the issue. I think there is also a considerable amount of effort to connect the opponent with as many negative connotations as possible. Like Kamala Harris does against Trump. Trying to associate Trump with something he has no involvement in and just happened to endorse someone before news of the incident broke. Republicans do this too by labeling Democrats and hating the country and being crazy extremist. Senator Warnock suffered a lot from this as he was often labeled as radical and had quotes of him preaching as a pastor attempting to align him with certain beliefs. He did not necessarily have any of those beliefs but was being pushed to be associated with them. It shows how politics has become almost like celebrity feuds.

    ReplyDelete

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