Reasons for the Victory of Obama - Essay Example

? Why Obama Won Introduction Campaigns is all about branding and appealing to the electorates as the best candidate. Those vying for any position must always develop a winning strategy to attract voters to their side. Campaign strategies are based on what people value and what affects the people. Politicians must always preach practical ideas, things that can be implemented, not ideas that are out of reach. That is where campaign strategies come in. Speaking of campaign strategies, the just concluded United States of America election was based on issues, ideas and issues that give solutions to problems that are very close to the heart of the Americans. United States of America as the most powerful country in the world would never endorse strategies that will drag them behind, strategies that do not consider gender, age, social status, race and any other issue that affect America both within and abroad. President Obama re-election bid was about how United States of America can move forward, and was strategically planned to appeal to the electorates (Americans) as the best strategy for America. President Obama re-election bid was all about issues that affect the poor and the rich, young and old, blacks and whites, educated and non-educated, gay marriage and straight marriage. Unlike President Obama, his main challenger Mitt Romney’s campaign was majorly based on Obama’s failures, what the president promised and never accomplished. Romney’s ideas were viewed as not to be “touching” the hearts of Americans. Romney was more of what will be done if he is elected and not how they will be done if elected, unlike president Obama who preach practical ideas and how they will be done. As much as both the presidential candidates appeal to the to the United States citizens to consider they presidential bids, they must also do the same for the Electoral College Vote. A candidate must have at least 270 Electoral College Votes to win the elections despite the score in the popular vote. President Obama scored 332 electoral votes beating his main challenger Mitt Romney who only managed 206 electoral votes. The diagram bellow shows how president Obama won the 2012 election. Source: reuters.com. However, in terms of the popular votes, it was one that can be described to be a toe to toe battle. President Obama scored 50.5% (61,907,639) while Mitt Romney scooped 49.5% (58,648,640) of the popular votes. President Obama won the election despite the state of the economy because Mitt Romney never addressed issues that have close impact to the live of Americans. Mitt Romney’s stand on legalization of marijuana, same sex marriage, immigration reforms, corporate affairs and dealing with Middle East and China did not correspond well with the Americans views. Unlike Romney, President Obama was able to consolidate the sentiments of emerging voters like legalizing same sex marriage, increase social spending, legalizing the use of marijuana, reforming immigration law and withdrawal of United States of America Military from Afghanistan and Iraq. This gave President Obama an upper hand to wins votes from Hispanics, Black Americans, Millennial and Asians that boosted his victory. Furthermore, President Obama won the election because he was able to appeal to two very important constituencies namely; Millennial and Hispanics. These two groups played a very critical role in President Obama’s re-election bid. President Obama’s stand not to deport young illegals should they come to United States of America as a child and has reached the required criteria avoided any bad impact on the state of the economy. Unlike Obama, Mitt Romney view on illegals did not go well with the group thus earning President Obama their votes. According to CNN, the millennial generation, which constitutes of 19% of the total US population up from 17% in the year 2008, 60% - 36% of the millennial generation voted for president Obama. President Obama’s position on gay marriage and immigration reforms also boosted his favor among the millennial generation (www.forbes.com). The President won over both the millennial generation and the Hispanic which contributed to his numbers in the ballot. Another very important constituency also exists, that is the woman which comprise of both the single woman and graduate degree woman who voted in favor of President Obama. The three mentioned constituencies i.e. Hispanic, millennial and women had the power to define the future and direction of the United States of America which they overwhelmingly did (www.forbes.com). Campaign marketing strategy Political marketing is one very important factor for each and every candidate vying for a political position. It involves how best political views can reach the electorates and change or affirm their voting decision. Just like the promotion of new products in the market, politicians also need their ideas to reach the electorate in the best was possible. This includes the use of social media, normal television advertising and other trusted means of communication. The just concluded United States of America election campaigns cost Presidential Candidates hundreds of million dollars on advertisement. This involved the use of facebook, Google, twitter, you tube, hulu, individual website, Television advertisements among others (www.campaignsandelections.com). The campaign was data driven based on targets and fields but did not at any time consider coincident. The adverts were to convey information to electorates and allowed feedbacks, which as a result provided statistics for analysis. The campaigns also relied on online polling to gather information regarding the representation of the population and the sample in question. Facebook and google ads played a great role in realizing the concerns of people at different level and what they value. The media was also used to find out how appealing the adverts were. According to the SMG-Delta, the total amount spent on TV ads for the campaign was $980 million (www.campaignsandelections.com) Mitt Romney spent more on major 11 Super PAC compared to president Obama who spent only 3, yet the president was able to raise more money compared to Mitt Romney. This is because he had already connected his views to the key constituencies in United States; they believed him and his ideas even though the economy was not as it was expected to be. A study conducted by the Targeted Victory and SAY Media in May 2011 and in June 2012 revealed that 30% of voters said they had not watch Television for the past one week. The increased number of digital electorates makes it difficult to reach them through the traditional means like home phones, broadcast and cable Television. Unlike Mitt Romney’s GOTV, President Obama apps served as a tool that assisted his followers in finding easy local ways in volunteering for his re-election bid. This also worked to the Presidents Obama advantage and gave him a good opportunity to link with Americans. President Obama was more of digital driven than traditional advertisements that promoted his presidential bid to victory. It is called the power of digital advertisement; it is taking shape in all corner of the United States of America. Presidents Obama wanted to reach more of the millennial generations which he knew had the power to make change during the election and so his decision to work more on digital advertisement earned him a clean victory (www.campaignsandelections.com). Social Media Social media particularly facebook provided the presidential candidates with feedbacks on what best their supporters prefer and the type of ads that best suited their interest. Facebook was also used to tally statistics from supporters based on what and who they prefer as per their segment. This assisted the presidential candidates in analyzing theirs support based and how to plan their campaigns. Unlike Mitt Romney, President Obama got an upper hand because his apps also served as a tool to assist his supporters find easy ways of volunteering for his campaign. President Obama also used social media to update his supporters on his campaign progress and his campaign venues. Furthermore, the Obama team used social media to highlight his strategies and also to criticize Mitt Romney ideas. Unlike Mitt Romney, the president used social media more to his advantage for real online engagement by always sharing with the public, starting conversations and charts. This pulled him more close to the millennial generations thus attracting their votes in his favor (www.npr.org). Use of “Big Data” Online polling was one of the data sources during the last United States of America Campaigns. The data assisted a great deal in the realization of the support bases and the voting segments. It also allowed direct engagement with the supporters both within the country and abroad. The data also help in identifying various support bases in swing states and the needs of the people. Facebook and Google were also the sources of data by engaging with the people and getting their feedback for analysis. Unlike Mitt Romney, President Obama got a big boost from data analysis by identifying the will of the people and they concerns (www.reuters.com). The President even narrated a story of a child in Ohio who suffered from Leukemia and had it not be for the Obama Health care, would be no longer breathing. This is the power of “Big Data” getting to know what is happening and acting accordingly which the president did. Unlike President Obama, his main challenger Mitt Romney did not make good use of data. This is fully supported with the fact that he was not able to understand the will of the people in the swing states. He was not able to understand the will of the woman and the millennial generation (www.npr.org). Swing states President Obama won the majority of swing states namely Ohio, Colorado, Virginia, Iowa, Wisconsin, New Hampshire and Nevada while Mitt Romney won two swing states namely Florida and North Carolina. I totally disagree with analysts who believe that United States of America also practice tribalism. Tribalism never existed in America, the regimes of racism are in the past and anybody who believes it still part and parcel of Americans should be corrected. Majority of whites voted for Mitt Romney in the swing states because they believed in his technical understanding of the economy and not in the basis of racism. The same happened to President Obama, who was overwhelmingly voted in by Arab Americans in the swing states, it was not because President Obama is a black American, but because they believed in his leadership. The swing states are largely populated by Arab Americans electorates who are widely concerned with issues based on health care, employment, education, economy, environment and fair tax reforms. President Obama was able to consolidate their sentiments mainly in health care through the Obama health care among other concerns like education and fair tax. President Obama was able to address some of the issues that were relevant and close to the hearts of Arab Americans who as per the 2000 Census Bureau, constitute of 0.5 % of the total votes of the United States of America votes. The Arab Americans does not give much attention to the state of the economy as much as whites do. Their main concerns are the basic things like health care, education, security among other basics. Arab Americans drafted plans and mobilized their communities in order to deliberately secure Obama a clear win in his re-election bid. Unlike Mitt Romney, President Obama’s clear stand on national issues was much better for Arab Americans than the technical understanding of the economy. The Arab Americans tremendously supported President Obama’s health care reforms because it was their major concern. Arab Americans’ support to President Obama was as a view to add him more time in order to allow him accomplish his promises of withdrawing the United States Military from Afghanistan and his proposal to end the outsourcing of American jobs. The Arab Americans were also very much aware that there existed a fear that President Obama Could not deliver his promises on second term, and so mobilized the community members and friends; build a coalition with other Americans and interfaith communities to take over fear mongering candidates. The coalition was formed to build a strong base for President Obama re-election by informing, educating and coalescing within shared objections. The coalition managed to defeat “Islamphobic” hate mongers candidates. Mitt Romney strategic team realized this development very late when they were out of time and so could not change on anything. It was not about the state of the economy in the swing states, it was about national issues based on the basic, and so President Obama’s leadership views were much better and comfortable for the Arab Americans. Despite Mitt Romney lead on Electoral College Votes in Florida, the Arab Americans in Florida’s 18th congressional district played a great part in putting down Republican Rep. Allen West with 2,500 votes. The same occurred in Florida’s 22 District where 2 Jewish candidates were locked in a tightly contested race with Democrat Lois Frankel securing more votes and defeating Republican former Florida House majority Adam Hasner (jackman.stanford.edu). Source: nytimes.com Arab Americans in Ohio also supported Democrats Sherrod Brown. A clear pattern also emerged in North Virginia where politically active Arab American Democratic Former Tim Kaine gave an open defeat against Republican George Allen. The same trend also emerged in Illinois where Arab American consolidated their community, friends, and neighbors and defeated Republican Joe Walsh. The highlighted trend above is a proof that United States of America is not guided by tribalism or racism as many analysts would say. Furthermore, white women would have not voted for President Obama if at all it was all about racism. Mitt Romney did not have proper statistics form swing states, he did not fully analyze the needs of Arab Americans. He though wrong that by basing his major agenda on economy would sway the swing states. Although his team realized late, they would at least find away to speak the language of the people. Understanding of the electorates is one important factor in every election which he failed to do in the swing states and much worse that he based his hopes on the whites’ electorates who he believed endorsed his technical understanding of the economy. Approximately 55% of women voted for President Obama because they were concern more with the basic needs of Americans and not the understanding of economy. The last United States of America presidential election was about who can deliver on the will of the people and not about who has the technical understanding of the economy. Conclusively, I end by saying that anybody who understands the will of the Hispanic, millennial generation and the woman will rule United States of America for the next decades (www.jackman.stanford.edu). References nytimes. (n.d.). nytimes. Retrieved November 23, 2012, from //http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/08/opinion/obama-won-on-values-not- demographics.html?_r=0 forbes. (n.d.). forbes. Retrieved November 23, 2012, from //http://www.forbes.com/sites/joelkotkin/2012/11/07/why-obama-won-hispanics- millenials-were-the-difference-makers/ campaignsandelections. (n.d.). campaignsandelections. Retrieved November 23, 2012, from //http://www.campaignsandelections.com/campaign-insider/319937/datadriven- politics.thtml reuters. (n.d.). reuters. Retrieved November 23, 2012, from //http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/07/us-usa-campaign-president-obama- idUSBRE8A60T920121107 New Technologies Boosted Obama Campaign's Efforts : NPR. (n.d.). NPR : National Public Radio : News & Analysis, World, US, Music & Arts : NPR. Retrieved November 24, 2012, from http://www.npr.org/2012/11/12/164979755/new-technologies-boosted- obama-campaigns-efforts jackman.stanford. (n.d.). jackman.stanford. Retrieved November 23, 2012, from //http://jackman.stanford.edu/blog/?p=2620 Read More