Progressive Millennials Prove to be a Solid Match for Hillary

*Editor’s note: I wrote this piece before the election took place, so I apologize if the rhetoric is not indicative to the post-election outcome.*

The massive surge of millennial support created by Bernie Sanders should have proved to be a harbinger for both candidates; young voters are ready for a more progressive political agenda. Millennials have been very active in their support of governmental responsibility to provide insurance, per PewResearchCenter. Also, young voters have put emphasis on providing more financial support towards today’s youth, for greater social mobility and direct profit.

Why do these issues coalesce nicely with Hillary Clinton? On Clinton’s main website, she has, “… a comprehensive plan to put higher education within reach for all Americans, and take on the crisis of student debt.” Her promise to invest large amounts of federal funding to alleviate the burden of tuition falls in line perfectly with millennials demands for financial investment. https://www.facebook.com/hillaryclinton/videos/1084864358236759/ (*video for college affordability). In terms of insurance, Clinton’s continuation of the Affordable Health Care Act is the most blatant example of universal insurance coverage for all Americans. https://youtu.be/jXE1Ik3oSMc (Hillary Clinton Health Care video).

Two of these major platforms, among other issues, has Clinton holding a 49 to 21 percent among voters under 30, per Harvard University Institute of Politics. While young voters advocate a more progressive platform, she has tended to struggle with undecided voters due to her “far left wing” approach on multiple social issues (gay marriage, abortion). In fact, undecided/independent voters have grown from a margin of 9 percent in 2012 to a more substantial number of 30 percent.

While not as progressive as Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton’s political platform caters to a young generation eager for governmental involvement and expansion. With more young, college educated women trending towards a democratic candidate, it would seem to place Hillary Clinton in a very nice spot with many millennials come Election Day.

Hillary Clinton Makes a Push to Obtain Black Millennial Voters

Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton is fighting to procure strong voting numbers among millennial minorities. In what seems to be a reoccurring theme in my prior blog posts, Clinton’s lack of substance regarding policies pertinent to young voters had turned off Black Live Matters supporters, like DeRay Mckesson. However, Mckesson now actively supports Clinton after a recent meeting in Cleveland. He stated that, “There was no platform the first time. There’s a platform now.” Burgeoning black support for Hillary has come either energetically, or pragmatically due to the enmity held for Donald Trump.

Clinton’s platform for young African Americans involves elements of controlling police violence and how to curtail bias while on duty, as well as legislation for racial profiling and job creation. Clinton has also been more successful in creating social events that cater to a targeted demographic, with rap superstar Jay-Z set to perform a “get out and vote” awareness concert. Hillary also stopped by the popular radio show “The Breakfast Club” and gave a shout out to the Howard University during their Homecoming celebration. A recent GenForward poll has 49 percent of African Americans claiming they will vote in the election; of the 49 percent, 80 percent openly support Clinton, with Trump only managing a meager 4 percent. However, her ground with black millennial felt short of once candidate Bernie Sanders, who held a substantial margin of 46 to 28 percent.

While Hillary has held solid ground among African Americans, she is also being aided by members of the hip-hop community. The “Anti-Trump” rhetoric created by numerous rappers has garnered improved support in the black community. For example, the expletive ridden and controversial song entitled “F*** Donald Trump” has received over ten million hits on YouTube, as well as thousands of derogatory remarks about the real estate mogul in the comments section. https://youtu.be/WkZ5e94QnWk With the election less than a week away, Hillary’s fight to procure black millennials is not one against Trump, but rather against third parties that can pull valuable votes away from major party candidates. With young black independent voters like Erica Mines voicing her concern that Clinton, “… is not someone who can be trusted.”, it shows that the former Secretary of State still has some work to do.

Affordable College does not Reach a Wide Segment of “Lost” Millennial Voters

*One of Hillary Clinton’s largest campaign planks has involved the integration of a “college affordability plan”; an issue that has been pervasive for both Clinton and prior Presidential hopeful, Bernie Sanders. However, Clinton’s interchangeable usage of young voters and college students is not an effective attack method, for 40 percent of young voters never progressed past the high school level. CIRCLE, a research center that focuses on youth issues, was the source of the data.

Young, Blue Collar Political Landscape:

A sense of “political disengagement” has kept politicians from targeting this segment of voters, with only 29 percent showing up to polls in 2012. Upwards of 17 million voters may still be targeted by Clinton’s campaign team, but not without overcoming several obstacles. Obstacle number one involves Trump’s popularity, with as much as s 40-point lead over white male voters without a four-year college degree. On the other end of the spectrum lies the disgruntled Bernie Sanders supporters, who comprised (at one point) almost 70 percent of young voter’s support. One way to ratify this issue would be to alter the political channels in which Clinton uses. As the elections looms near, Clinton’s team would be wise to target avenues like music festivals, churches and labor unions. President Obama, along with other shrewd political maneuvers, reeled in 66 percent of youth voters in 2008. While holding rallies on collegiate campuses is an effective tool for college voters, it politically disengages a large segment of young Americans.

Final Thoughts/Conclusions:

The “Clinton Cool” factor is obviously not the correct campaign approach this late in the General Election. Hillary should instead use the 25 years of political experience and acumen to her advantage to appeal as the most logical and “presidential” option for the American populous. In the words of Rebecca Nelson, author of the article, “They’re not looking for a pop-culture icon; they want someone who hears their concerns and gets the job done for them.” (Nelson). Effective and not exciting; it doesn’t pop off the screen, but it might bring the Clinton campaign a victory come Election Day.

When an Icon Disapproves

Michelle Obama and the Female Vote

Over the past 8 years, Michelle Obama has proven to be a driving force among the female population of the United States. As First Lady of the President of the United States, she has been able to communicate the ideal image of women across the country and make an impact on how young girls see their futures. With her stark disapproval of Trump’s 2005 tapes, she represents the feelings of women all across the country. Women identify with her and therefore support the identity she creates for Trump in segments of her campaign speech for Secretary Hillary Clinton. She says desperately that she “can’t stop thinking about this,” allowing the feelings of other women to be validated. The purpose of her speech, however, is to speak for Hillary Clinton’s campaign…not just to disapprove of Donald Trump’s.

No Vote at all is a Vote for Him

In Michelle Obama’s speech, she constructs her argument in a way that not only tells voters-both female and male- that they shouldn’t vote for Trump, but also that they should vote for Hillary Clinton: “no vote at all is a vote for him.” This two-sided technique allows her to achieve two goals with one speech. An article found on LexisNexis mentions her speech and quotes her with saying “I can’t believe I’m saying that a candidate for president of the United States bragged about sexually assaulting women.”

So What does this mean for Trump? It means that he is not only just losing female votes…he’s losing them to her. And Hillary Clinton is capitalizing on it with pages like this one, stating that “Michelle Obama just said what every woman in America is thinking right now.” Because of Donald Trump’s failure to effectively apologize and repair the situation, Hillary Clinton has a wide open window to make herself look better- through her own words and those of surrogates like Michelle Obama. And those actions are allowing the declining number of female votes for Donald Trump to continue falling.

Third Presidential Debate: Use of Storytelling, Emotions, and Framing with The 2ndAmendment

On Wednesday October 20 in Las Vegas Nevada, the third presidential debate of 2016 took place. The past two time Hillary and Donald, heated arguments dominated the conversations. This time was no different.

Moderator, Chris Wallace, started the candidates on some controversial topics, such as The Supreme Court and The Constitution.

Clinton had the stage first, saying she wants a supreme court that will stand up for women’s rights and the LBGT community, and stand against Citizen’s United.

Next, Trump took an opportunity to pivot away from matters, such as women’s rights, that make him look unpresidential, to talk about the 2nd Amendment.

“We need a Supreme Court that in my opinion is going to uphold the second amendment and all amendments, but the second amendment which is under absolute siege.”

This began the conversation (which was surprisingly tame).

Clinton rebutted saying,

“I understand and respect the tradition of gun ownership that goes back to the founding of our country, but I also believe that there can be and must be reasonable regulation.”

Each candidate made their stance, but how did they do it?

Clinton talked about gun control through storytelling and appealed to the emotions of her audience. Similar to the My Mom political ad on gun violence. She began her statement by saying, “I lived in Arkansas for 18 wonderful years.” This is very typical of a fairytale which often begins with A long time ago in a land far far away.

She also appeals to emotions later after Wallace mentions the Heller Decision. She says, “Well, I was upset because unfortunately, dozens of toddlers injure themselves, even kill people with guns because unfortunately, not everyone who has loaded guns in their homes takes appropriate precautions.” Here Clinton identifies her anger that will resonate with others who felt upset about the court’s decision. She then allows for others to understand her emotion with the information on toddlers.

What do you think? How do you think that Trump’s argument stood up to Clinton’s?

Click here to see a full transcript of the debate.

Click here to watch the debate.

FINISH THE DRILL

In the upcoming debate, Clinton will be looking to solidify the nation’s vote. In doing so, Clinton will be focusing hard on locking in the votes of minorities and immigrants who are directly affected by racial injustice. During this debate I expect Clinton to lay out the plan she has to bring about racial equality in all aspects of life in this country, she needs to be very specific and straight to the point to give the American people belief in her and what direction she is going to head upon entering the presidential office. Right now, Clinton has tons of momentum heading into the last debate and needs to keep rolling to solidify her spot as the nation’s top presidential nominee.

There are two pieces of presidential debate that Clinton will be honing in on. They are “stated proposition” being racial injustice, and “intent to gain the attention of an audience” by gaining the attention of all people directly affected by the racial injustices that take place in this country. Clinton has pulled away substantially in the last two debates, as they say “if it isn’t broke don’t fix it”. Clinton needs to continue to hammer down the topics she has been which include racial injustice and much more.

Presidential debate predictions: What to expect from Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump

Clinton stated in the last debate that Trump owed an apology to America for the alienation and verbal abuse of minority groups which has divided America which he was apart of. This accusation further separated herself from Trump and has helped her gain momentum with the minority and immigrant vote. I look for her to continue with these tactics to solidify her vote with the people directly affected with racial injustices.

Political Campaign Advertisements: Framing of Hillary Clinton in regards to Gun Control

Although the 2016 presidential campaign differs from traditional campaigns, one thing remains constant, the effect political ads have on voter decisions.

Just like artists frame their pieces, campaigns aim to frame candidates. Rhetorical framing happens when an object, situation, or person has been described in a way that leads the audience to believe a certain way. In this campaign, Trump frames Clinton as untrustworthy, hypocritical, untransformative, and weak. While she tries to frame herself as nurturing, knowledgeable, relatable, and strong.

Nurturing, Protective Mother

Hillary Clinton informs her audience of her stance through the use of positive, story-telling ads. In one ad title My Mom, the daughter of a victim of the Sandy Hook Shooting describes the loss of her mother, the principle of the school. It starts with wedding pictures and the daughter telling the story of planning her wedding with her mother. Scenes of ambulance lights and a news article covering the shooting appear on screen. Next the daughter says,

“No one is fighting harder to reform our gun laws than Hillary Clinton”

The narration continues with the daughter stating that Clinton “reminds me of my mother”.

In this ad, Clinton uses testimonial to reach her target audience of younger, college educated women. Hillary frames herself as a loving caring motherly figure. This ad extols Hillary virtues through the use of narrative and story-telling.

Hypocrite Hillary

While Clinton frames herself as protective and nurturing in her gun control political ads, Trump attacks her practices during his speeches.

Donald Trump: "Hillary wants to essentially abolish the Second Amendment." pic.twitter.com/jEppTyaUbS

— POLITICO (@politico) August 9, 2016

Because harsh backlash happened after Trump’s comment, “2nd Amendment people” should “take care” of Hillary, the NRA, The National Rifle Association, decided that they should intervene and distribute an attack ad instead of doing something more extreme (which could have been implied with Trump’s controversial quote).

In this particular ad, the NRA focuses on framing Hillary as a “hypocrite”. The ad starts with black SUVs escorted by police vehicles pulling up to a private jet. Hillary steps out of the SUV and armed guard walk her to the plane. The ad says that Hillary “tours on private jets protected by guards for thirty years, but she doesn’t believe in your right to keep a gun at home for self defense”. Because Trump did not attach his approval, this ad has the ability to attack Clinton as hard as it wants. PACs do not abide by the same rules as candidates. In fact, most attack ads which occur during a normal political campaign are paid for and distributed by PACs.

What does framing mean for the election?

With citizens already heading to the polls for early voting to elect the next president, it is important to understand how framing effects their decisions. For those who watch NRA’s ad, they could see Hillary as a hypocrite or untrustworthy. For those who watched the My Mom ad, they could see Hillary as someone who will nurture The United States of America back to health after the gun violence occurring across the country.

Accountability Check

In the past debate, Clinton was able to show the nation that Trump needs to be held accountable for his actions. Clinton spoke about Trump bashing a federal judge who was born in Indiana whose parents were “Mexican” therefore he could not be trusted. This is another example of Clinton making sure that the nation does not see this behavior as normal and acceptable.

In another instance, Clinton spoke about how Trump never apologized to the current POTUS for calling him a non-american because he was under the impression that Obama was not born in the U.S. Clinton deemed that a racist lie in the last debate, and that Trump needed to apologize to not only the POTUS but the country of America as well. Clinton finished these remarks by stating that Trump once again needed to be held accountable for his racist remarks and actions. Clinton was able to separate herself in this past debate when it comes to a racial standpoint because of these statements against Trump.

Clinton used “confrontation” one of the six elements of debating to bring public attention and focus on to his actions, and she was able to publicly condemn him for his racial remarks. While America was watching this most definitely helped her ethos as a defender and as the candidate that cares and will fight for racial justice in America. Personally, I found her remarks to be very beneficial to her campaign in my eyes because of the fact that Trump did not try to defend himself on the accusations because he realized that his actions were being watched and he was being held accountable and the whole nation now sees him as a different person than they may have before this second debate.

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Hillary Clinton: an Attempt to Shatter Highest Glass Ceiling

There are those who believe Hillary Clinton is unfit for the office of the presidency because they believe she put the United States’ national security at risk by using an insecure email server. There are those who believe Hillary Clinton is unfit for the office of the presidency because they believe she has been bought and paid for by corporate donors and that she does not empathize with the plight of the average citizen. And then there are those who believe Hillary Clinton is unfit for the office of the presidency because she’s a woman.

That’s right, the president of the United States can’t represent our national interests if they have two x chromosomes, get out of here with that nonsense!

As we continue our plunge into the 21st century, there still remains that highest glass ceiling for a woman in America: Holding the office of the presidency of the United States. This glass ceiling, seemingly unbreakable, is held together by the sheer force of modern history and traditional views of gender roles. This is the glass ceiling that Hillary Clinton will attempt to shatter on November 8th.

For full disclosure to the reader, I do not support Hillary Clinton for president and I will not be voting for her. But even as a non-supporter I can appreciate what she is doing in this historic run for the White House. Women were not considered full citizens in the eyes of the U.S. Government as late as 1919. Women have been discouraged from seeking leadership roles for a large chunk of our collective history. Just yesterday, Rudy Giuliani, claimed his candidate for President would be better for America “than a woman”.

Hillary Clinton must confront all of these realities and so much more in her effort to become the first female president in the history of the United States. And while we can debate all day long whether or not her policies would be the best for our nation, the truth is that if Hillary Clinton wins it will be a symbolic victory for women across the country and the world. Finally, someone will have shattered the highest glass ceiling.