Who Is the Liar?
In the closing weeks of this years 2016 presidential election, campaign ads have become more and more clever. This ad in particular, that was released two weeks ago, shows the angle the Clinton campaign continues to implement in order to ruin the reputation of both Donald Trump and vice presidential candidate Mike Pence. By using an ‘attack ad’, Clinton shows Americans that vice presidential candidate Mike Pence is doing a decent job as a surrogate for Trump, by defending him in interviews, but when he is asked direct questions about his running mates’ positions during the vice presidential debate, Pence completely contradicts himself.
Indefensible
This ad is clearly apart of what Edwin Diamond and Stephen Bates would refer to as phase 3 of political ads known as ‘Attack Spots,’ which are used to reduce the credibility of the opposing candidate. By using this ad, the Clinton campaign makes Governor Pence look extremely inconsistent, and the use of a ‘Negative Ad‘ in order to tear down an opponent could prove to be extremely useful at this point in the race. The Trump campaigns’ best argument against Hillary Clinton is that she is an untrustworthy liar, but this ad flips their position on its head by saying the exact same thing about Mike Pence. They may have chose this avenue in order to manipulate undecided voters minds’ to be more narrow when contemplating who to vote for.
Only One Conclusion
The Clinton campaign does an excellent job at proving Mike Pence was making dishonest claims by comparing his answers during the debate with those of his and his running mates’ past answers to questions about things like claims made on Vladimir Putin. Hillary Clinton is known for saying things similar to, ‘Make up your own mind.’ This is an effective approach, especially during presidential debates, because it puts the ball in the voters court allowing them the freedom to think on their own. Interestingly enough, this ad does not follow that pattern. This ad leaves the American audience with only one conclusion, and that is that Mike Pence and Donald Trump continuously contradict themselves and each other, proving that they are the untrustworthy ones.