Politics and Pop Culture
How is Pop Culture Influencing the 2008 Presidential Election?
It started in 1990 with Rock The Vote on MTV It was a campaign to make young adults more aware of candidates and take the time to vote in elections. Later, WWE joined forces with Rock The Vote to form Smackdown The Vote. This forum encourages wrestling fans to make their votes count.
The influence of pop culture has steadily grown and with the internet, it has exploded.
Now days, you can go to the MySpace log in page and see pictures of the presidential candidates and dates for the next debate or caucus. Rock the Vote has a MySpace page. There are various MySpace pages dedicated to the major presidential candidates. Some of these are "official" websites. Others are created by supporters.
Facebook has gotten in on the action as well. There are quizzes you can take to see which candidate you have the most in common with. And many of the candidates have groups on Facebook. There's groups supporting your favorite candidate and groups opposing them too. Facebook even has events where people can rally to support their cause.
Perhaps the biggest push on the internet, comes from YouTube. They have launched an entire platform called YouChoose. On YouTube, you can see who is running for president, who has withdrawn, and where the candidates stand on the issues. There are all kinds of videos from political ads to videos from the debates. There are also biographies for each of the candidates.
The internet is not the only form of media that is getting in on the action. TV has long played a role in elections.
We've seen Fred Thompson and Mike Huckabee on Jay Leno. Hillary Clinton has been on David Letterman. Barack Obama, in addition to being backed by Oprah, has also appeared on Ellen Degeneres. And of course, there's always the news.
What effect does all the pop culture influence have? If caucus results are any indication, a lot.
When Fred Thompson chose to appear on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno instead of appearing in a republican debate, it damaged his campaign. Mike Huckabee chose to appear on the same show the day before the Iowa caucus, it spelled victory for him.
Barack Obama got the young voter's support in Iowa, pulling out a win for him. Hillary showed emotion over losing the Iowa caucus and came out with a victory in New Hampshire.
There's no doubt that this election is a ground-breaking one. Not only could result in the first African-American President or the first female President, but also it is the first election to have such a huge influence on young America. And pop culture is the key to young America.
Published by Wendy King
After working 10yrs in Pediatrics as a medical assistant, I became a stay at home mom in 2002. I have 3 beautiful children. Two of my children have autism. View profile
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- The influence of pop culture has steadily grown and with the internet, it has exploded.
- TV has long played a role in elections.
- Pop culture is the key to young America.
3 Comments
Post a CommentGreat article Wendy. This is one of my favorites of your articles which says a lot because you are so talented!
Great work here - I've always paid attention to national politics - this election year is certainly one of the most interesting. Even the normally predictable or at least more so than the Democrats still have us guessing just who will get the nom. People have complained that there are too many debates or too much exposure through things like the net - I say you can't have too much. People around the world marvel at our election process - because mostly in the rest of the world their leaders don't have nearly the same amount of exposure or public "vetting" - even the less serious or downright silly venues like Colbert Report or Ellen have their place. Remember Bill Clinton playing Sax on Arsenio? It def gave him a boost with young & jazz lovers alike.
Great work with this !!