Discussion 6
In my limited experience, political campaigns matter. A well run campaign is essential for letting the public know what your values and ideas are and why they should vote for you. I think they are beneficial as they engage the country in voting for a candidate based on what they want their candidate to do and what values he or she has. They can have an influence not only on who votes for who, but also voter turnout as a whole. Political campaigns end up getting more citizens to come out and vote than if there were none.
I think that someone is more likely to vote if the values or campaign promises a particular candidate is running on directly impacts them. For example, if a candidate was running on an idea like eliminating all fossil fuels, it would be more likely for individuals impacted by this, like coal mine workers or gas station owners, to vote against them. Additionally, people are going to be more or less likely to vote based on how appealing or unappealing one or both of the candidates is. The way campaigns are run can affect this by how well they paint their candidate as likeable to the public.
If I were advising Trump on running again in 2024, I would tell him to avoid any questionable comments on social media and to run on things that he did well in his first presidency. Highlighting failures of the Biden campaign like inflation, the incoming recession, and the shut down of the pipeline and rising gas prices would be good things to focus on. Try to stay away from just name calling and pointing out Biden’s strange behavior and mental lapses and focus more on policy. For Biden, I would run on a specific plan on how to fix our inflation issue. Additionally I would try to just avoid any public hiccups. Avoid anything publicly embarrassing (ex: the bicycle incident) that would give Trump or his followers more ammunition. If he can steer clear of any big mishaps and show that he has policy in mind to fix our economy, he should be the favorite for reeelection.