Working their ways into January, the GOP candidates have
begun putting their helmets on for what is expected to be an aggressive
campaign battleground. With a large amount of them still in the race and
February fast approaching, each of the candidates intends on making sure they
are the last man standing. The article states that "by month’s end, the
candidates and their allied groups could spend as much as $100 million
combined, much of it on negative advertising delivered via television, radio,
mailers and digital spots." While many of these candidates are skeptical
of Trump's front-running poll numbers, the belief that, "spending money
against Mr. Trump and inviting his wrath could only help another hopeful"
seems to have created a sort of nonaggression pact towards him. Who do you
think will benefit from this upcoming series of attacks? Will they increase the
chances of having a challenger that trumps Trump? Or conversely will they feed
into his support? In the 2016 race as well as in general, how does the nature
of attacks on other candidates affect the race as a whole?
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
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It seems to me that there are two possible outcomes of this onslaught of candidate-slamming. The first is that whoever emerges on top of all of the candidates except Trump will then rise in the polls, supporter by ever voter except those who support Trump. It is possible that Trump will gain some support, but I hope that the majority of the American people will be able to see past their fear and recognize the humanity of the people that we as a nation are wary of at the moment. They are people too and the overwhelming majority of them are not terrorists. Voters will therefore cast their vote for the victorious candidate after these ads have played out and Trump will be out of the race. The other possibility as I see it is that the candidates will tear each other down so much that Trump will appear victorious, although he never really engaged in the battle. If the other candidates destroy each other and leav only Trump standing, I think we will most definitely have a Democratic president again. It does not seem possible that that many people would choose Trump, knowing what his policies could be. I sincerely hope that the latter possibility is more likely. I think almost anyone would be better than Trump at this point.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there are other possible outcomes also, but these are the two that came to my mind.
DeleteI think the attack ads will help the Conservative candidates with the largest war chests the most, as these candidates will be able to more aggressively attack the other candidates. I also think that they will help Donald Trump because one of his political strengths is his ability to direct criticism at his opponents while not suffering heavily from the manifold criticism directed at him. As for the general election, it will be interesting to see how the Democrats attack Trump if he ends up being the Republican nominee .
ReplyDeleteI think the attack ads will honestly help the more conservative candidates. In addition it would help Donald Trump tremendously becasue one of his political strengths is him being able to directly criticize his other opponents while not suffering much from the criticism directly towards him. In the general election, it should be pretty interesting to see how the Democrats criticize Donald Trump and see if he ends up being the Republican nominee. It doesn't really seem possible that a lot of people would vote for Trump just by knowing what his policies could be. I believe that basically anyone other than Donald Trump would be better to be elected.
ReplyDeleteI feel like this series of attacks will benefit Trump the most. As stated in the article, there is a "defacto nonaggression pact against Trump", meaning Trump will probably remain at the top of the standings while there is a power struggle for the places below him, where the other conservative candidates bicker and attack each other. As previously stated, I think most candidates have noticed how Trump can be very aggressive towards other candidates to increase his own lead, but is resilient to criticism by others. No matter what the outcome may be, these attacks mark the beginning of the increasing intensity and competition in the presidential race.
ReplyDeleteGod bless the people of Iowa and New Hampshire. The next couple of weeks are going to be awful for them. not just because they have to pick one of these candidates to give a huge boost to get the republican nomination, but they also have to put up with all of these negative advertisements. As far as who will come out victorious, its hard to tell at this point. You want to see someone with that is closer to the political center win like Marco Rubio or John Kasich just to improve the chances of a victory in the general (not to mention the fact that those two are both from key battleground states) but if nobody goes after Donald Trump, he may be the winner of these caucuses ,which is a scary thought. Maybe if every candidate builds up enough courage, they can all try to tackle Trump at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI think Christie is the easiest target because of the bridge scandal, but I think if he plays this right he could make a forceful statement that bumps him up in the polls a bit. I think Trump will definitely benefit from these attacks as everyone is afraid to touch him. I think the ads will only end up knocking down all the candidates involved leaving Trump at the top practically unscathed which worries me. Cruz will probably get hammered... I'm honestly not sure if anyone will beat Trump at this point. He's gained quite a following and no one wants to bash him for fear of his retaliation... I think Cruz has a shot at beating him, no one else is even close. I think that we're all a bit desensitized by the negative advertisements and they don't really hold much sway unless they make a point that really affects the American people.
ReplyDeleteI think that candidate-slamming can go two ways: either it will completely destroy the candidate so there is no chance of them coming back; or, it will only infuriate the candidate's supporters and make their support stronger than ever. With Trump, I believe it to be the latter as it doesn't seem to matter what he says (he's even offended his own supporters), he still comes out on top at this point in the game. With candidates who are wavering in the lower end of support, ads that are against them could be disastrous as they already have less support. Hopefully, the candidates at the top right now (especially on the Republican side) will not be at the top in later months due to candidate-slamming or self-destruction. That's all I can say.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately for sane Americans seeking a moderate Republican nominee, Trump has repeatedly shown that anyone who goes up against him, either with negative advertising or verbal attacks and rallies or speeches, will, in turn, become targeted by Trump himself. Just one example of this happening, although it's perhaps the most obvious, is when Jeb Bush singled out Trump during multiple debates, only to be completely shut down my Trump.
ReplyDeleteHaving witnessed these attacks and having seen what Trump can do, I believe the other candidates are counting on (and hoping for) a natural fall from grace without having to get down and dirty themselves. One candidate needs to dig in and constantly point out Trump's flaws. I think that he will take a hit for it at first, but I also think that it could prove successful, especially if it is a candidate already near the top of the pack. Many Americans are looking for someone to knock Trump off his pedestal and I think they'd respect someone even more for doing it despite inviting Donald's wrath by doing so.
As the Iowa caucus draws nearer and nearer, it would seem that Trump has managed to hold his lead. Personally, I think that the candidates collectively choosing to not attack Trump out of fear has led to an ability for him to succeed while staying out of any significant attacks, while he still makes comments on news shows that have hurt others campaigns. While he may not be launching any ads, he has indeed done the job of an ad at certain times. Conversely however, I think that competition between other candidates will eventually turn into more candidates dropping out of the race, leaving behind the top contenders, who, as it would appear, will likely pick up the support from the candidates who drop out. In the eventual, I think that that would then provide the chance for a candidate to overtake Trump, it is just a matter of how soon that happens, and if Trump has gained too much momentum by then. Clearly, the Iowa caucus will be very important as well as interesting to watch. Later on however, naturally we will see more and more ads being played, and more and more they will be much more direct as candidates leave the race and other candidates can then focus. Also, we will begin to see ads focused on the actual candidate who is paying for the ad, instead of just attack ads. Also, I think that ads will actually play a larger role than usual in this election, due to the fact that there are so many either political outsiders or candidates with extreme views running, and I think that ads will instigate interest in people which then translates to more voters, which then is of course what is important to the candidates.
ReplyDeleteRegardless of whatever the other candidates decide to do, Donald Trump has gotten the largest amount of media coverage out of anyone in this election. His comments, notoriety, and prior fortune set him apart from the rest of the Republican candidates. This series of attacks may prompt other, less known Republican candidates to drop out of the race, which would lead to a fiercer fight to win. In this election, it seems that whenever one candidate criticizes another (ahem, Donald Trump), that candidate gets more media coverage. When Donald Trump insulted Carly Fiorina, she gained supporters. When Donald Trump argued with Jeb Bush during the last debate, Jeb Bush gained more coverage. So forth and so on. It is difficult to predict the outcome of this election, even the primaries, so we will just have to wait and see.
ReplyDeleteThe GOP battleground has already seen its fair share of mudslinging so far. With many powerful personalities and strong opinions clashing there was bound to be aggressive and negative campaigning. I expect it to be more negative then previous years, but I also have no idea how bad it could get. Trump like the article mentions adds a whole new aspect. The questions of; “will people attack him” and “How hard will he attack other people”, leave the GOP political landscape in a fog of war as we await to see what happens.
ReplyDeleteThe GOP candidates have become some sick reality show. Websites and talk shows have poked endless fun at something that should be taken seriously. I have grown so very disgusted with that state of the GOP campaign that I honestly don't care what happens. The GOP candidacy has turned into a big joke for me. With goofballs like Trump in the running, people haven't taken things as seriously as they should have been taken and it all just feels like a big waste of time.
ReplyDeleteAt this point in the election, I doubt that the GOP nominee will be even somewhat moderate, as mostly all of them are extremely conservative, especially the ones at the top. Furthermore, I believe that candidate slamming will help Trump, as his supporters will strengthen and provide more support. Yet I'm not so sure if it will help or hurt the other candidates. I do know that the GOP needs a serious revolution though, as two of the top candidates have held no political positions before and have no experience whatsoever. That is just scary. I'm not sure how the Republican primary will turn out, but I think that the winner will certainly be very right-wing and there is no hope for anyone in the middle.
ReplyDelete