Citizen participation: Vote for the party or for the candidate?
By Alejandro Maciel / March 20, 2024
When elections approach, candidates try to show off their best smile. Their teams make sure every detail is perfect—hair, clothes, even their gestures. An attractive candidate, whether male or female, is an advantage during election time.
Carlos Reynoso, a Mexican immigrant who has lived in the U.S. for over 30 years, he is n't buying it. “No matter how nice they look, they are really the same wallowing cat,” he says firmly.
“It's like they're trying to sell us a product, and that is a big lie,” says Luis Alvarado, analyst and political advisor.
At its core, the definition of propaganda is to promote ideas, programs, and platforms, using the candidate as a way to spread that ideology.
Propaganda is clear: It is not the candidate that must be “sold,” but the ideology behind them.
As political parties become less representative of society's interests, advertising and marketing experts go to great lengths to convince voters that the candidate is what really matters, not the party they represent.
Every candidate must ultimately align with their party's platform. For example, Donald Trump, represents a segment of society that opposes abortion, asserts that global warming is a myth, and supports lower taxes for the wealthiest. In this election, the Republican Party is also advocating for stricter immigration laws and placing less emphasis on clean energy.
Therefore, it is not about whether Trump is likable, simple, sincere, tough, or controversial. What matters is that they push the Republican agenda in his administration if he wins.
The same goes for Democrats. If Joe Biden is the candidate, he will continue to promote the party's platform and ideology, such as support for LGBTQ+ communities, abortion rights, fewer restrictions on legal immigration and the promotion of unionism.
What candidates bring to the table is simply the personal “touch.” They do not change the political ideology behind them.
Change of strategy
Faced with a crisis where political parties have made all kinds of alliances and commitments to hold on to power–moving further away from their principles-- advertising and marketing experts have stepped in to shift the focus from the party to the candidate.
With this in mind, they work to highlight the candidate's personal merits and distance them as much as possible from their party.
In the case of the Republican Party, advertisers must perform all kinds of balancing acts to attract the migrant vote after President Trump referred to them as the “bad blood” of this country. The same challenge applies to attracting the female vote, after Republican legislators and judges continue abolishing abortion rights.
Biden's situation is complicated too. After four years in power, he shows signs of wear and tear that not even top advertising experts can fully address, like his increasingly frequent memory lapses.
During the elections, it is crucial that the public does not get swayed by the candidate's smile or appearance. “They should carefully review what the candidate stands for and vote in a well-informed manner,” says Alvarado.
The original Spanish-language article can be found here on La Red Hispana.