Carly Fiorina Presidential Campaign Strategy

Carly Fiorina’s campaign began six months prior to her official announcement as she assessed interest, hinting to various media outlets that she was “actively exploring” a bid for the Republican nomination.

Carly visited the key states of Iowa and New Hampshire before finally making her official announcement in a YouTube video released on May 4^th. In a strategic attempt to increase her name recognition, she appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America, The Kelly File, and the popular infotainment show “Late Night with Seth Meyers” in the three days following her announcement.

The goals of her campaign are aimed to attract the female vote, something the GOP has struggled with in past polls, as well as appealing to the conservative business sector as a former Chief Executive Officer of one of the world’s largest technology companies. She positioned herself well early in the presidential race, maintaining control over her image as a businesswoman who knows how the economy works in the real world, as opposed to a “professional politician.”

Despite a strong start to her campaign (after the first debate, polls placed Fiorina fourth out of seventeen Republican candidates with 15% support), she has dropped to the bottom of the race in this morning’s Monmouth GOP national poll, securing only 1% of GOP support.

With all the groundwork for a successful campaign- adequate fundraising, ample media attention following her announcement, excellent performance in the initial debates, a thorough campaign website and active social media accounts- what caused the voters to hit the brakes on Fiorina?  

The answer could be found in her campaign staff and advisors. Her core campaign staffers have never worked together on past campaigns, and have worked on only one single presidential campaign between them. This starkly contrasts the staffers of other candidates, like Lindsay Graham’s with a combined 21 presidential campaigns, or Jeb Bush’s staff with 19 total presidential campaigns.