OPINION: Trump and Harris want your vote, but how are they getting your attention?
Photo via: Oleg Yunakov, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Olliver Hunt, a Freshman studying Journalism, argues that the two presidential campaigns have been using different strategies to sway voters with different levels of success.
There’s no debate that this election season has already started to be unpredictable. Whether you follow politics closely or from afar, it’s almost impossible not to know the nature of this election. Both presidential candidates for 2024, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, are fighting for the same thing in this election. This is demonstrated through their rigor and approach to reaching their audience via their ad campaigns. Both candidates released ads the week of Aug. 26, and they are drastically different in content and audience, but what do we make of them?
Harris has hit the ground running after officially accepting the Democratic nomination. On Aug. 20, she released an ad covering her biography and policy goals, two important categories every presidential candidate needs to communicate. Harris flawlessly seamed these two categories in an ad targeting new homeowners and others struggling within the housing market. The ad, titled “Full House,” starts with Harris explaining the struggles her mother went through to buy a house when the vice president was a teenager. She then explains her plan to tackle the ongoing housing crisis that Americans are facing. Harris assures her supporters that she will address the housing crisis and intends to share these plans transparently as she moves through the race.
This ad is crucial to the vice president’s campaign as it gives insight into her childhood and early career. Throughout the ad, headlines dating back to 2012 float around the screen, highlighting the different fights Harris took on when working in California as the Attorney General. These bits of biography are important as the election continues. Harris is opening the gates to swing voters to explore policies and notions that Harris intends to uphold and implement in her presidency.
Comparatively, Trump released a nonpolitical ad that feels like you woke up in the middle of the night to the cable infomercials. Trump’s newest endeavor is another round of NFT trading cards hailing heavily photoshopped and AI-generated pictures of the former president in various poses. This ad caters to Trump superfans and collectors alike as he stands in front of the camera gloating about cards with images of his face on them. Each digital NFT card goes for $99 and there are packages depending on how many cards you buy. For example, if you purchase five NFT trading cards, a pair of limited edition gold Trump sneakers will be thrown in. This is one of the less expensive packages priced at $495.
Trump is not too worried about establishing his biography or policies in the upcoming election. He even goes on to speak about his debate with President Joe Biden, a debate Trump established as a success. The former president seems to have given up trying to win over swing voters as he caters to his current following. These trading cards and the perks within the packages are a prime example. In another ad, this time political, Trump pits Kamala against herself in an ad targeted against Biden’s economic policies. This drives home the idea that Trump doesn’t want to establish his policies through ads but rather attack and dispute other policies put in by officeholders.
The difference between the two current ads running is astronomical. While Harris recruits new and old voters alike, Trump relies on his locked-in voters. The comparative approaches to the ads begs the question of the end goal of each campaign. While Harris seems to be establishing her fight for others and the current American crisis, Trump further establishes a notion many critics hold for him, that being his selfishness. Trump has yet to speak about his presidential plans in an ad like Harris has done. Instead of utilizing air space and reaching out to swing voters, Trump has put out a nonpolitical ad soliciting money. In an era where people are consistently misinformed about policy and the presidency, there are better moves for Trump than this as the election looms closer.
It’s interesting to watch how each candidate utilizes the dwindling time before the election. I would argue that Harris is pushing hard through this election, given her circumstances. She has gracefully made each decision carefully and has been trying to put her name out there as much as possible, especially through TikTok, to young voters. It's a hard feat to go against Trump in an election as his following is notorious for being die-hard. Kamala Harris is pushing through, however, and does not let that get in her way. She is not wasting time with nonpolitical ads in this election.
All in all, both candidates have been working towards the election. Through rallies and conferences, each candidate is trying to gain supporters each day. The only difference is their approach to it.
Please note that these views and opinions do not reflect those of The New Political.