Trump’s Campaign Manager to the Rescue
In August it became evident that something had changed in the Donald Trump campaign. Trump shocked people across the nation as he began to appear more presidential than ever before. Trump himself has not changed, but rather his campaign manager. His new manager, Kellyanne Conway has a tough road ahead of her as she tries to help Trump “woo women” voters.
Conway Manages Trump’s Crises
Conway has not been successful in changing Trump’s attitude nor comments towards women, but she has worked to counteract them. The most recent crisis Conway has managed occurred six days after the first presidential debate, where Trump once again isolated possible women voters as he attacked former Miss Universe, Alicia Machado. The campaign tried to counteract his comments with the release of a new ad, “Motherhood,” starring Ivanka Trump. To see the ad click here. The Washington Post describes this latest ad as, “the most overt appeal yet to women voters…”
Trump’s Latest Ad
This ad mainly targets female voters as it shows Ivanka taking on the task of being both a provider and a mother. She uses powerful language such as, “the most important job any woman can have is being a mother, and it shouldn’t mean taking a tax cut,” and “he will provide tax credits for child care, paid maternity leave, and dependent-care savings accounts,”
to appeal to the women voters. Whether you believe her comments or not, you can’t deny that the adorable children appeal to your emotions. According to Trent and Friedenberg political ads often serve a variety of functions, but I believe that this ads’ main objective is to redefine Trump’s image. This is supported by both the timing of the ad and the rhetoric used within it. Ivanka successfully fulfills her role as a surrogate in this ad, however this one ad can’t undo every sexist comment or action Trump has made. But the creation of this ad is a good first step in appealing to women voters.
sources:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/09/30/ivanka-trump-stars-in-new-campaign-ad-to-help-her-father-appeal-to-women/
https://thinkprogress.org/kellyanne-conway-trump-c6b04fba7c12#.6qvsvfk4l
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/09/meet_the_nj_native_whos_running_donald_trumps_camp.html
www.nytimes.com/2016/09/28/us/politics/alicia-machado-donald-trump.html
I liked the first paragraph about his new campaign manage, especially since she is also a women. It’ll be interesting to see what steps and avenues she begins to take with the remaining road ahead before November hits. I think the fact that he has a woman as his manager it could possibly help his rhetoric, but then again he may have already dug the hole too deep in terms of his support coming from the female side of the vote.
I also think his latest ad is a brilliant move on his part because he sees the issue at hand and is trying to pull out anything he can. Your appeal to emotion comment is so spot on because that’s definitely the approach he’s trying to take with the ad. I don’t know how much having his daughter Ivanka in the ad will necessarily help, but I think that the picture of him with the little boy is certainly a strategic move.
Enjoyed the blog!