THREE THEMES OF THE REPUBLICAN NARRATIVE

As the presidential election season unfolds, the narratives of the Republican candidates have developed to display clear themes, unique to each candidate but still aligned in existence.

#1: Personal History

Sometimes it feels as though the Republican front runners are spending as much time on their back stories as they are discussing their platforms. In appearances in Georgia prior to Super Tuesday, Trump, Rubio, and Kasich all used their personal history and back story in an attempt to relate to the people. Kasich and Rubio discussed their humble beginnings; Kasich as the son of a rural blue collar family and Rubio as the son of immigrants. Donald Trump’s back story largely consists of the fact that he is not a politician, as he touts his past success as a business man.

#2: “We can win”

After 8 years of progressive democratic presidential action under President Obama, the conservative voters just want a win. Republicans want to align themselves with the candidate who can win the nomination, and go on to win the presidency. Donald Trump has been touting his ability to pull out wins since the beginning. When Trump lost to Ted Cruz at the Iowa caucuses, he took to Twitter (as he often does) to tweet that Ted Cruz “didn’t win Iowa, he stole it.” Despite disappointing performance in state primary elections and caucuses, Kasich continue to focus on his ability to win his home state (and crucial swing state) of Ohio in the winner take all primary next week. Similarly, Marco Rubio says he can still pull out a win in his own home state of Florida, despite poll results stating otherwise.

#3: Positive vs Negative Affect

Trump is pretty well known for his Twitter tirades, and in case you were looking for one- here’s a complete list from the New York Times of the “202 People, Places, and Things Donald Trump Has Insulted on Twitter.” It’s pretty extensive, if there was ever any doubt. While some candidates, like John Kasich, have repeatedly refused to go negative and maintains his positive campaign, Rubio seems to be sliding over to the Dark Side. Recently he’s been launching his own thinly veiled negative attacks at Trump's spelling and the size of his… hands.