The One Thing That Matters In An Election Is The Hardest One.
It is one thing to sit across a table and make an eloquent case on what you have to offer and quite another to make the person sitting across you to move to your side, pick a pen and sign a contract.
Yes, you can make it easier - send the contract their way and offer a pen. Still, their act of signing the document is a low odds one.
That is why election rhetoric puzzles me. The time spent on the act with the lowest conversion odds is just one line at the end….”don’t boo, do vote” or variations of that.
What can be done differently?
Granted, some voters are inherently motivated by their sense of civic duty, some by their sense of identity and some by their ideology.
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The power of stories always stuck with me.
Candidates understand that, many start the eloquent narratives with emotionally stirring stories. Yet, I did not find any for the lowest probability act – persuading people to leave home, go to a polling booth and cast a vote.
I waded through the video clippings and even newspaper articles by famous journalist before the recent Brexit referendum [where a higher millennial turnout could have turned the decision]. I did not find persuasive stories – just facts and one-line urges.
I wish stories like the one below take center stage.
The frogs wanted a king. God tossed a log into their pond. At first the frogs feared the log -- it looked so big and made a splash. Once they figured out the stillness of the log, they squatted down on it and wanted an active king. This time, they got an eel. The eel was active, good-natured, easygoing fellow - but a so-so ruler. So they wanted one who was a real, real ruler. They got a stork. The stork was active and purposeful. Every day he swallowed up a few frogs. That included the frogs who stood on the sidelines – without ever making a case one way or
During the 2016 Vice-Presidential election, candidates Tim Kaine and Mike Pence use persuasive language and strategies for their arguments. Notably, both speeches measure about the same in terms of implementing pathos through the repetitive use of their hardships and their families. Pathos is a strategy used to stir up the audience’s emotions. Based on the strategic manipulation of pathos, middle-aged voters may tend to sway towards one candidate more than the other.
When determining what I should cover for the annotated bibliography, I knew I wanted to cover rhetoric with the political and public affairs arena. The ability to persuade the masses is truly an art itself. Because the political and public affairs arena is so broad, I narrowed my research down to reading and researching about the president’s rhetoric when campaigning, governing the public, and convincing the other branches of government. The power of rhetoric and the effective usage of it play a vital role in winning the elections, building a level of trust with the public, engaging in good public policies, and delivering on promises. It results from the candidate’s ability to know what to say, how to say it, when to say it, where to say it, and understanding the political environment of the time.
In the 2012 presidential election, the incumbent Barack Obama campaigned against Mitt Romney (Document E). Both candidates used glittering generalities to appeal to voter’s emotions. Obama used “Hope” and “Forward” and Romney used “Believe in America.” Neither of these catch phrases were informative as they did not provide any real information to the voters.
The game I saw was the Boston Celtics on TNT. I saw the game for ten minutes, and in those ten minutes the Gatorade logo was shown a total of five times. First, it was shown two minutes into the game, there were two big containers with the Gatorade logo. The next time I saw it was a person with a Gatorade bottle. Then I saw a person with a Gatorade shirt. Then the cameras pointed at another big set of containers on the other side from the other two containers I saw in the beginning. The last time I saw it was on the backboard of the
The political spectrum in general, have grasped manipulative rhetoric tactics in gaining the public’s support on both sides of the prominent gun possession issue. As everyone knows, the media exploits a multitude of strategies and tactics to influence the community in a specific direction, depending on what opinions they are trying to press on the people.
The topics that I am most interested is God and health. I am extremely passionate about my faith as well as maintaining a healthy lifestyle. It may seem like these two topics are on the opposite side of the planet, but they have more similarities than you may think. My favorite reading thus far in A Time Traveler's Guide to Rhetoric is “Allegory of the Cave” by Plato. This story reminds me of today’s society, as humans begin to see the significance of light we also discover the truth. Of course, this all relates to my Christian faith, in which we seek the truth of Jesus Christ, we become the light in a dull and dark world. The longest paper I ever had to write was last year in my AP English course in which I was required to do a semester long
United States. The question that Roberts tried to answer was, “Why is voter turnout so low in the United States?” One of the basic premises of the article was that high voter turnout was a good and desirable thing. He argued that that high voter turnout is crucially important and something that should be sought after in presidential elections. The article also presented several possible solutions to the problem of low voter turnout.
Democrat or republican? You have always just chosen what you believed, right? Well, the choice you make could actually be based on how your brain functions! In How Politics Breaks Our Brains, and How We Can Put Them Back Together, Brain Resnick uses studies and experiments, strong credible figures, and a weak personal life experience to argue his claim that people have a partisanship side of them that is built into the brain. This causes decisions to be made on a biased mind. These points give a shaky but over-all strong argument that the general audience can agree with.
It is easy to glance at the 2016 Presidential Election and paint it as a looney bin with unpredictable results, wacky campaigns, and erratic candidates. However, after studying the election closely, I have discovered quite the contrary. In fact, I would even go as far to suggest that each candidate was a master of their craft—rhetoric. Looking back, it is entertaining to see how each candidate enhances their credibility, evokes a fusillade of emotions, and presents certain calculated policies. If asked several months ago, I would have provided an entirely different answer which would have compared the election and its candidates to a circus and its intricate members. My enlightened grasp on the election was elucidated through various readings, weekly blog posts, and three term projects which allowed me to thoroughly analyze the campaigns. Although learning about the strategic ways to employ presidential rhetoric was the focal point of my class, I finished with new skills and experiences that will benefit my writing abilities. The adversity I faced because of late nights and unsatisfying grades has provided me with a sense of clarity and humility that has made me a more attentive and refined writer.
The second reason that I find to be highly influential is pre-registration. I don’t think that this should change, however it can be difficult to find the time and means to register for an election. This combined
I’ve had many memorable moments in my lifetime, but one stands out more than the others. When I watched the Clemson Tigers win the College Football National Championship, I thought I would never see something as exciting ever again. This was the very moment that stands out from the rest.
Voting is the foremost way to exhibit good citizenship and civil responsibility. People should get involved in elections and educated in all political measures. By this they become good and responsible participatory citizens. It should always be remembered that some people sacrifice their lives to preserve the freedom and voting opportunity as a sacred right. True democracy demands the involvement of the people otherwise in absence of that there is no democracy(Akande, 2011).
Voter turnout is commonly regarded as one of the most distinct issues within American politics of the last century. Though the United States once averaged a turnout rate of 78% of eligible voters in presidential elections between 1860 and 19001, the average voter turnout of the 21st century has fallen to around 52%2. The cause of the marked decline throughout the 20th century is often attributed simply to voter apathy, but the issue is much more complex. Upon analysis, it is clear that a number of factors have contributed to the decreased rate of voter turnout, of which voter apathy is perhaps the least influential. The decline in voter turnout in presidential elections from the 19th to the 20th century is most likely a result of the instatement of the Australian ballot, the structure of the American election system, and an increased disillusionment with the government over the last century.
6. What are the benefits of being a proactive leader? Is being a reactive leader necessary at times? Explain Proactivity is crucial to effective leadership. It displays ones abilities to foresee an issue, implement controls and still continue the mission without incident.
"You don 't get the chance to make America great by getting rid of everything that made America great,” Stated by Hillary Clinton during her campaign rally in St. Louis, Missouri to attack candidate Donald Trump from his previous diverse rhetoric. Political Rhetoric has been very popular in today’s society. Politics use this as a platform to criticize other candidates about important points that are essential to the United States and its citizens. Not only does others believe that political rhetoric is out of control but it is a negative form of art. During election time, the media and the internet are critical for candidates because it gives them easy access to the younger audience. Although social media is enormous in today’s society, this is the best way for young voters to make their voices heard. Scott Keeter a research analyst and exit poll analyst for NBS News stated that “Young voters have given the Democratic Party a majority of their votes, and for all three cycles they have been the party’s most supportive age group” (Keeter, 1). According to U.S. Census Bureau over the course of time the rate of younger voters “Dropped from 50.9% percent in 1964 to 38.0 percent in 2012” (U.S. Census Bureau, 2).However, the media continue to evolve with modern society. I believe that rhetoric such as visual political rhetoric helps the youth to get more involved with the political arguments while being educated and entertained at the same time.