Anna Heaton
Voting is a right that every American has, yet many fail to exercise. Without votes, it would be impossible for a party's candidate to win an election. Therefore, they often try to encourage, or mobilize, citizens to vote. Mobilization is costly because it generally includes rigorous campaigning and appeal to citizens. Because of the high cost of mobilization, parties will often strategize who to mobilize to ensure the best result. Parties will attempt to mobilize someone who will support their candidate, someone who is an active voter, and someone who is likely to influence those around them (Gershtenson).
With the presidential election in 2020, there is no doubt that parties will attempt to mobilize electors into voting. Candidates will select specific states that they will campaign and hold speeches and forums there. They will select states where their party is the major party, or states where there is fierce competition. To choose a state that they are unlikely to win would be a waste of resources. As stated before, they will then cater more towards politically active individuals, which unfortunately leaves out a considerable amount of the population.
This upcoming election, I predict, will be a close one. There will be lots of competition between the parties to mobilize voters. Voter turnout in the United States is fairly weak. Out of everyone within the voting age population, only about 50% of the population votes. Therefore, parties will need to look for ways that not only encourage citizens to vote for their candidates, but to also encourage citizens to be more active in voting. In the recent years, we have seen parties attempt to reach out more towards the common citizens to mobilize them to vote.
If one recalls in 2016, President Obama made a video encouraging people to vote. The video was posted to the predominately liberal platform Buzzfeed. While Buzzfeed is known to take the occasional political stance, they also cater to the general public a considerable amount with their addicting quizzes and fun videos. This video no doubt appealed to both politically motivated citizens and non-politically motivated citizens. This is an example of how the democratic party used new technology and resources available to them to mobilize a greater mass of people.
An increasingly popular trend today are memes. During the Obama administration, the close friendship between Obama and Joe Biden created a variety of memes. These memes introduced Biden to the general public as a humorous character. We can see these memes appearing again as Joe Biden runs for president. Whether intentional or not, these memes will help the Democratic party mobilize voters towards Joe Biden for the 2020 election.
In addition to mobilizing voters towards their party, memes can also help spread a negative connotation about an opposing candidate. President Trump has his fair share of negative memes that portray him as weak and foolish. While these memes may not sway an active Republican from voting for Trump, someone who is not politically active might go along with these memes because they think they are the status quo. However, Trump is also able to catch the public’s opinion with his notorious twitter account. His frequency of trending draws the attention of the general public to him.
The 2020 election will be competitive between the Democratic and Republican parties. Both parties will try their best to mobilize active voters to their cause. The recent technology of social media allows the general public and non-active voters to be more accessible in mobilization. It helps parties reach out to more people in a cost efficient way. Social media and memes are an inexpensive way to get your point across in a memorable and brief picture.
Resources:
https://learningsuite.byu.edu/plugins/Upload/fileDownload.php?fileId=80d90861-sUu8-RtcA-qdRH-UE4d2847884f
https://learningsuite.byu.edu/plugins/Upload/fileDownload.php?fileId=e9197584-uG8S-71uk-LwBU-OE0b9b8a9d42
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout_in_the_United_States_presidential_elections
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eE7Da_6AMM
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