Social Media and its Impact on Political Debates. Hilary L. Frazier. Regent University

Transcription

1 Running Head: Social Media s Impact on Political Debates 1 Social Media and its Impact on Political Debates Hilary L. Frazier Regent University

2 Running Head: Social Media s Impact on Political Debates 2 Former president John Quincy Adams said, The influence of each human being on others in this life is a kind of immortality. Presidential debates have changed significantly throughout the years, now focussing more on the use of social media to appeal to their audience. Presidents must now posess remarkable persuasion skills to convince their audience to not only agree with their line of thinking, but to truly believe that they are the candidate to vote for. One journal focussed on the ethics of political buisness suggested that, The media make choices about how to represent what goes on in the world and this representation can be seen to have different implications in leadership (Takala, Tanttu, & Virtanen, 2013). The rapid growth of social media and technology use is a major tool used to enable the political candidates to form a sort of relationship with the people that has only recently become available. In this paper I am going to compare the first televised presidential debate, John F Kennedy and Richard Nixon with the most recent presidential debate: Barrack Obama and Mitt Romney. I will discuss how they are alike and what aspects Obama borrowed from Kennedy and how he used Kennedy s television persona to help him win the 2008 election. Finally, I will discuss public s perception of presidential debates. We will see how much technology and media has influenced us as a country, as well as the leaders we choose. Dwight Eisenhower, the president known for signing the Federal Highway Act of 1956 to create the United State s interstate and highway system was coming to the end of his second term as the president of the United States. As the democrats and republicans searched for the best candidates they had to offer, television was improving and growing by leaps and bounds. No one could have predicted how much this new age of television was going to affect public opinion and change the course of public debates in a way that would change politics. The republicans choose

3 Running Head: Social Media s Impact on Political Debates 3 Richard Nixon, a man who sounded great on the radio and had great plans for our country. He was older and had wisdom and experience. The Democrats choose a candidate a lot younger than Nixon with not as much political experience and less than clear cut ideas for where he wanted to take the country. But Kennedy had something that Nixon lacked: Charisma. A charm that people would see as they watched him calmly speak into the cameras as his opponent sweated profusely. Television worked in his favor as millions of people scrutinized each candidate, picking up on Nixon s discomfort and recognizing Kennedy s relaxed demeanor. His demeanor was not the only quality that won the people over. Kennedy, the youngest presidential candidate, stressed the importance of vigor in his speeches and his demeanor inspired the youth of the nation. (Baugess & Debolt, 2012) Many citizens were still reluctant to accept Kennedy despite his charm because of his young age and his catholic background. In addition to those factors, Kennedy could not ignore the fact that Nixon was doing far better in his radio campaigning. Kennedy had to use television to his advantage if he wanted to beat Nixon. Three important moments before Election Day insured Kennedy s victory. Kennedy used a televised debate in 1960 to convince voters that his catholic background would not be an issue, putting their minds to rest. The speech was filmed in a hotel ballroom located in Houston, Texas in Many protestant ministers were in the ballroom with him and asked him pointed questions. To one of the questions he responded that he saw, far more critical issues before the country, war and hunger and ignorance and despair (Dallek, 2003). than the issue of his religious background. Kennedy s tactful and respectful responses to these questions helped win the admiration of protestant voters. Secondly, Kennedy sought to earn the votes of African Americans. He did this by successfully lobbying a Judge to free Martin Luther king, who was currently serving time for a minor offense. This showed African

4 Running Head: Social Media s Impact on Political Debates 4 Americans that Kennedy was willing to fight for their right. The most important event in Kennedy s campaign came less than two months before the election. On September 26, 1960 CBS broadcasted a debate viewed by over two thirds of the adult population in the country. Although Kennedy did not know as much as Nixon he had one major advantage: his ability to have a relaxed and calm demeanor on television. It was important for Kennedy to establish a connection with the audience before the debate started and right before conclusion. Addressing the people of the United States ensured that Kennedy came across as a leader who intended to deal with the nation s greatest problems while Nixon s intent seemed to be to, gain an advantage over an adversary (Dallek, 2003). Nixon was not much older than Kennedy but his health was poor. This election showed how much the visual aspects of media effect our votes when we are making a decision. Nixon had made two major mistakes that added to his poor television presence. He had picked a vice president candidate that lacked enthusiasm and also made the awesome pledge of appearing in all fifty states during his campaign. This brutal schedule was too much, causing Nixon to go without sleep for long periods of time as well as develop a sickly appearance. Nixon knew his stuff and did not stutter on the radio, but being on television was another matter. The visual aspect introduced by television hurt Nixon in more ways than one. Kennedy had a few health issues, mainly severe backaches, and was addicted to pain killers. Nixon was more old fashioned and took no medicine to help him deal with his brutal schedule. This resulted in him going to televised debates destined to lose even though he knew more his opponent, Kennedy. After seeing one televised debate, the mayor of Chicago, Richard Daley, said, My God! They ve embalmed him before he even died! (Black, 2008) The camera angles used during the debate did not help Nixon, he received more close up shots than Kennedy, making one wonder if the

5 Running Head: Social Media s Impact on Political Debates 5 camera men were purposely trying to make Nixon look as tired and nervous as he appeared on screen. This marked the beginning of a tremendous change in politics caused by television that would significantly alter the publics perception of who they should vote for by adding a the visual element to presidential debates. Barack Obama was elected the 44 th president of the United States in November of While it was very important that he was to be the first black president of the United States, there was another important quality that he possessed that his opponent, John McCain, lacked: Charisma. Obama presented himself as a charismatic leader, winning over many Americans with his charm and humor. Obama is very comfortable in front of cameras and seems to never be flustered by a serious issue. Americans could see this positive attitude and confidence when they would watch him debate Senator John McCain. Obama presented himself as more of a leader than McCain by doing his best to relate to the public while maintaining a strong sense of capability. The charismatic leadership that Obama showed the public was unwavering. One scholar described his confidence in preparing to lead the United States as, A phenomenon which is created through language use and communication (Takala, Tanttu, & Virtanen, 2013). John McCain has a lot more experience than Obama but as the election revealed, his experience was not enough. McCain was evasive when asked a direct question and sometimes got flustered when he felt he was not saying what he really wanted to communicate to the people. McCain made it hard for the audience to follow his statements because his points were not made clear most of the time. McCain had a hard time maintaining eye contact, sometimes looking like he was still trying to formulate his thoughts as he was speaking. During every debate that McCain and Obama had, hardly any eye contact was made because McCain would not look at his opponent. This concerned the public and made us question the validity of McCain s

6 Running Head: Social Media s Impact on Political Debates 6 statements because avoiding eye contact is a sign that one is not telling the truth. McCain s poor eye contact coupled with his evasiveness during televised debates set him up for failure as the media captured every facial expression and word he said. The 2008 election between Obama and McCain is very similar to the first televised presidential debates between Kennedy and Nixon. Both outcomes were strongly influenced by the media and how each candidate presented himself while being televised. The American public in general is very visual when it comes to politics. The persona of the candidate is sometimes more important to an individual than the actual things the candidate is trying to accomplish or the moral issues that are being discussed. Instead of reading what topic is being debated and seeing the context we watch a television screen and observe the attitude and body language of the two candidates. One journal said this of presidential debates, Persuasion and conviction are intimately connected with debate. It is perhaps for this reason that televised leaders debates are so popular since the Kennedy-Nixon debates of 1960 (Íñigo-Mora & Álvarez-Benito, 2010). While Nixon and McCain may have had more knowledge and experience than their competitors, they lacked the presence needed to persuade an audience that saw them through a television screen. Like Kennedy, Obama made efforts to look into the camera at the beginning and the end of a debate while McCain acted much like Nixon and looked uncomfortable and unable to maintain steady eye contact. Kennedy and Obama recognized the power of media and realized that they could use the media, especially television, to gain a personal relationship with their audience. Nixon and McCain failed to take into account how much the way they were perceived on camera could hurt their campaign and focused more on the content of their message and what was best for the people, forgetting to make a personal connection with their audience.

7 Running Head: Social Media s Impact on Political Debates 7 James Druckman, an expert on the effects media has on politics, concluded form his studies that, People draw on a multitude of inferences from human physical appearances and movements Many people infer personality characteristics from human physical features. (Druckman, 2003). His research reveals that television has revolutionized politics and presidential candidates. Druckman further explained that, The rise of television introduced a more imaged-based political environment that accentuates a candidate s personal qualities (Druckman, 2003). One study focused on what Obama and McCain made people feel in terms of emotions. This study revealed that Obama made citizens feel overwhelmingly more hopeful than McCain while McCain benefitted, to a lesser extent, from pride he inspired. (Finn, 2010). Obama has stated many times that he admired former president Kennedy and even quoted him in the beginning of his State of the Union Address. It is quite obvious that Obama studied Kennedy s television persona and learned how to act in front of a camera as part of his campaign strategy. This intelligent strategy is a major factor that helped him to become our 44 th president. In this paper I have talked about the effect of media on political campaigns and discussed way television has changed the way we see politics as a country. We have looked at the presidential debates of Kennedy and Nixon and seen the impact that the introduction of televised debates had on the outcome of the election. We looked at the similarities between this debate and the Obama/ McCain debate, solidifying the fact that our society is now a media based society. We focus more on visual aspects of the candidates than we do the issues they are discussing. Presidential debates have changed significantly throuhout the years, now focussing more on using social media to appeal to their audience. Presenting a plan to help our country achieve greatness is now only part of the campain strategy for presidential candidates. Television and other media has added a whole new dimension to the requirements to gain the votes needed to win a presidential

8 Running Head: Social Media s Impact on Political Debates 8 elcetion. The changes brought about by mass media are huge and should be studied carefully by anyone hoping to win an election. Sometimes it is not the message that you are trying to convey that is the most important, it is the medium that is being used to transport your message.

9 Running Head: Social Media s Impact on Political Debates 9 Works Cited Baugess, J. S., & Debolt, J. A. (2012). Encyclopedia of the Sixties: A Decade of Culture and Counterculture (Vol. II). Breenwood: Library of Congress Cateloging-in-Publication Data. Black, C. (2008). Richard M Nixon. McClelland & Stewart Ltd: Toronto. Dallek, R. (2003). John F Kennedy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Druckman, J. M. (2003). The Power of Television Images: The first Kennedy/ Nixon debates. Journal of Politics, Finn, C. (2010). Voter Effect and the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election. Analysis of Social Issues & Public Policy, Íñigo-Mora, I., & Álvarez-Benito, G. (2010). A CASE STUDY OF THE OBAMA-MCCAIN ENCOUNTER. GESTURES AND WORDS IN POLITICAL DISCOURSE:, Takala, T., Tanttu, S., & Virtanen, A. (2013). Discourses of Charisma: Barack Obama. Journal of Buisness Ethics,