During the current Presidential Race, a number of common themes have emerged. Here are a few of the trends I’ve noticed as emerging in this current presidential cycle:
1. Influence of the Democratic and Republican Parties is fading
Obama proved in 2008 that an outside candidate can beat an “establishment” candidate both in the primary and general election, in the case of Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney, respectively. That trend appears to be continuing with the excitement in both parties centered around non-establishment candidates such as Trump and Sanders.
2. Experience does not appear to be very important to presidential voters
Again, Obama proved in 2008 that experience was not the principal determining factor for voters. When it comes to 2016’s Republican candidates, Trump and Carson have no governing experience on the Republican side, Cruz has no executive experience, and Rubio has only legislative leadership experience. Governors Jeb Bush and John Kasich already appear to be toast in the running. Governor Christie is the only one surviving somewhat at this point. Though voters appear to want a clear plan to change their lives for the better, campaign positions centered around experience or complicated nuanced discussions seem to be going nowhere.
3. The influence of mainstream media is also trending down
Due to social media and other alternative platforms for candidates, voters are getting more unfiltered information about candidates, which results in less of an impact from the spin of various news outlets. For example: anyone can access and watch the full, un-edited speeches of the various candidates on YouTube whenever they please. In the past, mainstream media would edit and produce sound bites, which could serve to either help or harm candidates based on the editing process and views of the outlet.
4. Political Correctness is under attack
Donald Trump has begun a full-blown assault of politically correct speech. I define this as the societal castigation of speech that may possibly offend an individual or a group of individuals. Although Trump often goes too far with his words, political correctness has gone equally far with its oversensitivity to aggressive discussion.