It seems undeniable that the media has acted as a kingmaker
in this election. According to The Atlantic Donald Trump has had more coverage
than Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush combined, and at one point or another, both
of those candidates had thought to be their parties inevitable nominees.
On social media, Donald Trump also dominates. He can hardly
send out a single tweet without it becoming headlining breaking news. Clinton,
who has invested a lot into social media, running a social media campaign
stylized after Buzzfeed, is arguably not being advantaged by this particular
investment. However, Senator Sanders is a strong social media candidate. His
volunteers use social media to organize volunteer opportunities and have been
doing so all across the country since the moment that Sen. Sanders announced
his attention to run for president.
In a discussion of social media, it is important to
understand that it seems that Snapchat has not served the candidates well throughout
this process. In fact, while Clinton and Rubio have Snapchat, Ted Cruz, Donald
Trump and Bernie Sanders have opted out.
One aspect that we have read about but have not been able to fully explore in this class is the presence of third parties. Trump has constantly left open the idea that he might run as an independent. Former Democratic candidate Jim Webb decided to not run as an independent. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg might still run as an independent, but if not there are still the nominees of the Libertarian and to a lesser degree the Green Party to consider. Certainly I could (and often do) tie this point back to the first one about media making kingmakers. The pundit class all too quickly will write off the Libertarian and Green Party nominees as unelectable.
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| A volunteer at a Bernie Sanders Rally at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. |
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