Course Ruler

Application of Political Communication in the American Political Story in 2016

Introduction

Politics plays a major role in the society. Apart from social and economic aspects, politics is another important factor in many economies. The United States of America voted had a general election in which the current president was elected. The political story between the then two main contestants that is Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton marked a history in the United States of America and the world at large (Fukayama, 2016). America is one of the democratic economies where there are only two parties, the Republican and the Democrats. During the electioneering period, the current president was the Republican candidate while his opponent was the Democrats candidate. This research paper analyses the effects of political communication on American last general election.

Research objectives

1. To identify the effects of political information after the American last general election.
2. To demonstrate the general importance of political information on both the actors and the general public.
3. To identify the reasons why politics can influence people’s lives positively or negatively as far as elections are concerned.
4. To relate theoretical frameworks on political communication to the events that took place after the election and the influence of the social media.  

Literature Review

According to Edwards, Gender and political communication shapes American politics in each electioneering period. Politics and elections at large tend to attract many women in America but the question of having the first female president results to many questions. Many scholars and political analysts tend to present their views on this issue to show the public some underlying factors which should be considered. These facts relate to gender and political communication in America. Ideally, America has never had a female president despite of their population ratio between men and women in the country. In 2013, the American Census Bureau reported that there were 161 million female and 156.1 million males in America. This ratio indicated that there were slightly more women than males in the county at that particular time.

Despite of the numbers, the country has never had a female heads of state. However, in 2016 general election, many people anticipated that the female candidate would win. Political analysts used different media stations to discuss the whole story about the campaigns. This was the form of political communication which some people used to determine who they would vote for. For example, the CNN was said to focus more on the democrats than the republicans (Gentzkow, 2016). Additionally, gender plays a major role in politics. Today, there are more women in the political arena as compared to the early ages. Some people perceive that political leadership can be determined by someone’s gender while some think that gender is not a determinant of leadership qualities.

McNair studied the importance of media and cultural studies in political communication. He found that media and culture plays a crucial role in shaping the political sphere of a nation. The media represents social, print and other information houses such as Television and radio stations. In the contemporary world, social media is commonly used by many people. Statistics show that the use of social media platforms has risen over the years. Internet can be accesses easily regardless of someone’s location. Therefore, both politicians and the general public use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn among other social media platforms to spread information.

After American 2016 general election results were announced, many people took their reactions to the social media. Twitter was full of the happiness as well as criticism (Enli, 2017). People created different hash tags on twitter such as “#Not My President” to show how they were aggrieved by the results. Trump’s supporters were celebrating while his opponent’s supporters were criticizing his win. Actually, some angry supporters went to the streets to protest against the then president elect. Politics involves a loss or win game. When there are two contestants, only one person is likely to win.

Culture also determines how people react on different political situations. Over the years, America has been using election polls to determine the possibility of a candidate winning or losing an election. In 2016, some polls suggested that Hillary Clinton was likely to win (Kellner, 2017). This excited his supporters such that they did not expect anything apart from winning. However, not all polls determine the end result since the sample used in the polls does not capture the whole number of registered voters. It had been a norm that whoever wins on the polls automatically wins the election. The poll results are always aired by different media stations (Stephen, 2016). Ideally, such polls can make some people to have different misconceptions about the election if their candidate fails in the poll. Additionally, the supporters of the candidate who wins the pre-election polls are likely to have a fixed mind as far as the results are concerned. There for culture should be observed as an aspect of political communication (Davis, 2010).

Politics press and the public determine the political communication structure in America (Perlof, 2013). In this regards, politics involves the reactions and the speeches of different candidates or political leaders. In 2016, some people criticized Trump’s policies on America. For instance, his strict rule on immigration and building a wall on the border between America and Mexico was not appealing to some Americans. They saw this injustice to other people. Notably, some people shed tears after the results were announced since they were against the policies of the then president elect. Therefore, the political actors determine people’s reactions. In developed democracies such as America, many people vote in regards to the candidate’s policies for the nation. A candidate is likely to gain more votes due to good policies which can better the lives of the people.

The general public represents everyone who participates in the campaigns and voting (Franklin et al., 2016). During campaign periods, politicians tend to present their agendas to the public so as to have the majority votes. Politicians travel from all parts of the country to talk to the general public. The public is the major player in political communication. Therefore, political actors should ensure that they cooperate with the general public.

Theoretical Application

Political communication can be explained using three schools of thoughts. These schools consist of theories which were developed in the early century to explain the whole aspect of political communication in any political situation. These theories are universally applicable since many counties engage in elections after a specific period.  In 1920s and 1930s, political scholars identified the theories of mass propaganda. This theory was developed as a result of a study conducted on American voters. The scholars discovered that people could be swayed by propaganda on radios and newspapers.

In the early years, people used radios and newspapers to communicate. Political news was only accessed through these two sources. However, not all information which was passed by radio presenters and newspaper writers were true as far as politics was concerned. The constitution provided for the freedom of speech and the right to be in a political party of someone’s choice (Esser and Pfetsch, 2013). In America no one is forced to be a democrat or a republican. Therefore, even radio presenters and writers had political affiliations; therefore they could easily spread propaganda. Such propaganda influenced people’s way of voting.

In the contemporary world, this theory is effectively applicable. As opposed to the traditional society, there are so many forms of communication. Consequently, there are different types of fake news on the social media (Allcott and Gentzkow, 2017). People post their feelings and reactions to the public regardless of their opinion. Propaganda is evident during election periods in different countries. People use the social media to criticize and to support politicians according to their political ideologies. These propagandas are likely to influence the way people vote in a county. In 2016, many Americans predicted on the social media that Clinton would win in Many States. This could affect the voting patterns in the country such that the supporters of the opponent could turn up in large numbers to vote so as to disapprove their opponents. Additionally, the television stations also influenced the political temperatures in the United States. People depended on the news and the social media which some were just propaganda.

According to a study conducted by Lazarsfeld, Berelson and Gaudest indicated that theories of mass propaganda had weaknesses. They did their study in of state in America in the 1944 general election though they started the study in 1940. They reported that reinforcement played a major role in political communication (Jacobson, 2016). In their study they discovered that there were those who were not interested in politics from the beginning. As time went by, they started developing political interest through listening to politicians and attending campaign rallies. This theory is also evident due to the fact that there are some people who tend to have no interest in politics but with time, they begin to like politics. This happens in most cases where the politicians use persuasive skills and different personnel to pass information. Today, politicians use campaign strategists to manage their campaigns and also people who are experienced in public relations to talk to the people on their behalf.

In 1960, Campbell et al. developed social psychological theories to explain the new developments in political communication. His focus was on social and party alignments. Over the years, Americans have been voting according to party affiliation. Those who are interested in politics tend to fall in either of the parties. Consequently, some states are considered to be aligned to particular parties. For example, Chicago is dominated by many democrats as compared to republicans. Political parties influence people’s political view in the society.

The social part of this theory focused on campaigns. Generally, campaigns determine the likely hood of winning an election. A candidate who does an intensive campaign is likely to win that as opposed to those who do shallow campaigns. Ideally, America has got many states hence making it one of the largest countries in the world. Therefore, presidential candidates have to campaign in each and every state to ensure that they are known everywhere. They also ensure that they present their policies to all citizens. This theory is evidently applicable in the society. Political communication theories have been used by political analysts and other interested organizations to explain different political situations.

Methodology

For this research to be effective, both qualitative and quantitative data will be used to explain the research topic. The first step will be research on the reactions of American citizens before and after past elections. This will be done through the use of available sources such as YouTube, CNN documentaries among other content from different media stations. Due to the availability of the internet, I will be able to find all information related to the aftermath of the American 2016 elections. This will include both video and written content. The information from these sources will help me to proceed to the next step.

The next step will be to research on the reactions of the political actors that are the then president elect and his opponent. Ideally, they will be the major focus in the research because the main political communication depended on their reactions. Politicians have followers who tend to what they are told by their leader. In some cases, the relationship between a politician and his supporters tend to be like that between a principal and his agent. People act according to their perceptions on the feelings of their leader. Therefore, the reaction of the political leaders plays a major role. They can help in cooling down a situation when things are not okay or even giving direction where people are in need of advice.

Data Collection

In this research, I will use documents and records to identify the relevant data on the said topic. The documents are available from both print and online media. The online media comprise of videos and images captured during and after the election period. The print media include the books and printed journals on the aftermath of elections. For example, there are videos of protests which occurred in different cities after the announcement of election results.

Additionally, there are also the reactions of the political actors regarding the political situation that rose after the election. The CNN and the ABC news has documentaries on what happened in America in 2016 (ABC News, 2016). These documentaries can be accessed from the internet. Furthermore, Twitter has all the records of people’s reactions regarding Trump’s election as the president of the United States of America.

Data Analysis

Before presenting my findings, I will critically study the documents and video contents. I will make notes on the important points and like them to the concept of political communication. I will do this for the information about supporters’ reactions as well as the response from the political actors. The information from the print media and other online contents will constitute the qualitative data. I will use framework analysis to ensure that the information obtained from the sources is directly connected to political communication and the importance of media on the same. Quantitative data will include all mathematical representation of the data such as the percentage of the population and the affected sample.

Findings

According to the data collected, the media played a major role in political communication. The television stations kept on updating people before during and after elections. As far as political communication was concerned, television stations reported the campaign trails of both presidential candidates in question. In addition, they also ensured that people are informed about the developing stories after election. Before the then president elect was sworn into office, people held demonstrations in different parts of the nation to demonstrate their objections on the results. Some people shade tears when they learned that their candidate did not make it to the white house.

Apart from the media stations, the general public also played a major role in spreading information. Different social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook were used by individuals to influence their colleagues (Wang et al., 2016). Persuasion was used to ensure that people were interested in politics. Generally, the public were the main focus in the election. The main reason behind this fact is that the public had the authority to determine the next president of America. They were to vote any one from the list of the qualified candidates. The public should be respected by every political leader before and after elections.

After the announcement of the election results, Hillary Clinton used the media to congratulate her opponent. According to her speech she expected to win but she recognized the will of the people and promised to work with the newly elected president. Her message motivated the supporters but due anger some her supporters still went to the streets to protest. Clinton accepted defeat and congratulated the then president elect. This showed an example of a mature democracy which protects the will of the people.

Consequently, Trump addressed this issue when he was giving his victory speech. He said that he was going to be the president of all Americans regardless of who they voted. He also promised to work together with his opponent to ensure the betterment of the lives of Americans. It was time to let go the political differences between the republicans and the democrats. In his speech he said that it was now time to work for the Americans. His supporters celebrated his win and they criticized those who were protesting.

Discussion

Politics can easily influence human personal life. In this case, people took it too personal to the extent of shading tears. They perceived that whoever was elected was not going to address their issues. Almost everyone has his or her own political ambitions. Therefore, some people used the social media to spread unnecessary information about the election process. Politics can enable someone to develop trust to someone who they would not have known of it were not politics. Additionally, politics brings people together hence creating unity among those who support the same candidate. In many democratic countries, people who support one candidate are more likely to cooperate with one another. Therefore, politics is one of the factors which influence how people relate with one another in the society.

The policies advocated by the political actors are important in the determination of the candidate’s possibility to win. People vote leaders who they think can better their lives. These policies vary from one candidate to another. During the campaign period, politicians present their views to the public so as to convince them. In this case, there were also presidential debates organized to provide a platform for the candidates to share their manifesto and to tell the people what they would do if perhaps they would be elected. Therefore, policies play a major role in political communication.

The reaction of both political actors helped in to restore the situation. Actually, some Clinton supporters wanted her to go to the Supreme Court to institute a claim unfairness of the authenticity of the results. However, she decided to concede defeat and to continue with other life matters. Additionally, other leaders such as the former president and the leaders of congress also congratulated the then president elect and promised to work together with him in ensuring that the people get good services from the federal government. The reaction of leaders and other interested organizations can determine the reactions of the public. In this regard if Clinton had not conceded defeat, it would have caused chaos in the country.

Conclusion

Political communication dates back to early century. In America people started voting so many decades ago hence it is one of the countries with the largest number of former heads of state. The 2016 general elections marked a history in the nation when people protested in different states to showing their disagreement with the electoral system. Political communication involves the interaction of political actors, the media and the general public. The media helped to spread political information during and after the election period. The political actors used the social media helped in restoring peace in the nation. The general public also played their role to ensure that political communication was successful. The research aimed at finding the whole aspect of political communication in the American 2016 general elections.

References

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