Media Frames on the 2016 Presidential Race

As we get closer to the conventions for each respective political party, horse race journalism increases. Frames and narratives begin to look more nuanced and pronounced. On the Democratic side, the focus on delegates and Hillary Clinton's lead in super delegates seems to be a main concern for Bernie Sanders. Clinton continues to lead in pledged delegates, but the Democratic party elites who back her put her even more over the edge. According to polls, Sanders defeats Trump in most states in wider margins than Clinton, meaning he receives more support from Independent voters.

According to a Politico article, Democratic senators are urging Sen. Sanders to stop attacking Clinton because it hurts her in the general election against Trump. Sanders does not seem to be letting up. In an email to supporters, he states that Clinton is fundraising from wealthy campaign donors while he receives money from average Americans. Sanders has out-raised Clinton in multiple months by a wide margin. He gets the most individual donations out of most presidential candidates. Clinton just recently reached her one millionth individual donation when Sanders has had 5 million in the last month and 2 million individual contributions this month. Sanders won Utah, Idaho, and the Democrats Abroad primary by large margins and received more pledged delegates than Clinton even though she won the Arizona Primary.

Democratic elites seem to agree that Clinton is flawed, but she is going to be the nominee. They want Sanders to drop out and unite behind her. Sanders at this point does not seem inclined to do that. The spin on this article is that Sanders has no chance and the only way to stop Trump is to unite behind Clinton. Sen. Claire McCaskill called Trump a "baffoon" and believed that the Sanders/Clinton fight was nothing compared to Trump. There seems to be some conflict between Democratic elites and the Sanders' campaign, but overall they believe Sanders "will do the right thing" and campaign for Clinton. There are about 24 states that haven't voted yet including delegate rich states like California, New York, and Wyoming. The Sanders campaign insists that Sen. Sanders is a better general election candidate than Clinton and they encourage super delegates to switch to their side.

On the GOP side, Republicans are worried that Donald Trump could lose them the House and possibly the Senate. Trump's divisive rhetoric is alienating a number of Americans and this may hurt Republicans chances at securing seats in Congress. Some GOP members believe Trump could get Democrats to vote for him in the Fall. The House Republicans have mostly remained silent on the rise of Trump, Politico reports. As of right now, it's clear the the Republican Party is in disarray and there is no unity among them. Similarly, the Democratic establishment and the DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is getting a lot of backlash from Democrats and even a primary opponent has emerged to go against her. Many agree though that the Republican establishment has lost control of their grassroots movement which includes Donald Trump and the Tea Party. The conflict between the GOP elites and their constituents who are going for Trump is much more devastating than what's going on with the Democratic Party. Trump has a broad coalition of support from new voters, Republicans, and even Democrats. The GOP have aided in the rise of Trump over the many years and this could impact the party in a significant way for future elections to come.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton has completed switched her attention to the general election. Her campaign believes they have won the nomination and she is attacking Trump more often now and ignoring Sanders. At a speech to a pro-Israel lobby group, she said Trump's neutral stance on the Israel and Palestine conflict shows he does not understand foreign policy. Many Jewish groups also are not fond of Trump. The New York Times article shows the conflict between Republicans, Trump, and Clinton. It also highlights Clinton's policy towards Israel.  Clinton also said she would use military force against Iran if they violated the agreement in the Iran deal. She spoke extremely aggressively on making sure Israel remains an ally of the United States and how she would increase relations with the region. Sanders being the only Jewish candidate to not attend the pro-Israel speech caused a stir among pro-Israel groups. However, Sanders requested to speak to AIPAC via satellite, but they changed their policy and did not allow that this year at the conference. Instead Sanders outlined his Middle East foreign policy plan to a crowd in Utah.