It's been almost three months since the first presidential primary votes were cast in Iowa and New Hampshire and millions of people across the country have cast their votes for who they think should be the next President of the United States. The field of candidates has narrowed from almost 20 contenders at the start of the year to just 5 candidates between the two parties: Businessman Donald Trump, Senator Ted Cruz, Governor John Kasich, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Senator Bernie Sanders. As the party conventions and the general election draw near, candidates will begin to think about the strategies they will need to use in order to win the White House. Because of the traditional demographics that make up each respective party the strategies that candidates use will vary significantly, especially depending on the platform that they have created throughout the election so far. Since I have been following the Democratic Primary, specifically Hillary Clinton, throughout this primary season here are my top five strategy suggestions for her, or Bernie Sanders, for the general election.
1. Focus on the Issues
The point of elections, especially for the presidency, are more than publicly beating up on your opponents and seeing who is leading in the polls, although that is what the media tends to focus on with their "horse-race politics." The issues that candidates talk about on the campaign trail are often the policies that they will try to pass as legislation once they are elected President, so it is important for the Democratic Candidate to clearly state their views on the salient issues of this election. That means stating their stance on income inequality, immigration, gun control, women's rights, LGBT rights, and the economy. These issues have become the most debated topics of this year's election on the Democratic side and are the one's that the American people care about the most thanks to candidates like Sanders and Trump who focus solely on some of these issues at times. Not only would the Democratic Nominee need to talk about their opinions on these issues, but their opinions need to align with the Democratic Party's overall platform as well so that elections held at the state and local level can build off of what the national candidates are doing. Focusing on the issues also helps voters distinguish between the two parties and know which candidates would work on fixing areas that concern them the most.
2. Work on Image and Leadership Qualities
With the New York State Primary held earlier this week, the issue of leadership was a frequent topic of debate among the Democratic Candidates. Accusations that Sanders said Clinton was not qualified to be President of the United States not only hurts that candidate specifically, but the party in general. In comparison to the Republican Party Primaries this year, the Democratic ones have been extremely peaceful and polite and this atmosphere cannot change if the Democrats hope to win the general election in November. Whoever becomes the Democratic Nominee will need to focus on their record of experience and how that will prepare them for the White House whether that is the time they have spent in the Senate or time as the Secreatary of State. The Democratic Nominee will also need to work on their image and potentially continue the image that President Obama has created for the party as one that helps people who are disadvantaged get the rights that they deserve.
3. Unite the Party
Though the Democratic Party has appeared to be more presidential at times than the Republican Party, there is still a certain amount of division within the party. As with any race, supporters of particular candidates are often loyal to their candidate and have a hard time switching their support if their candidate does not win the nomination. However, a scenario where Sanders supports refuse to support Clinton as the nominee or vice versa could be detrimental to the party and potentially lose the White House to whoever the Republican Nominee turns out to be. In order to unite the party to defeat the Republicans, the Democratic Nominee will need to help fund raise for other candidates running on the Democratic ticket at both the local and state level and make appearances for these candidates at various campaign events. This would help create unity because it would show that all of the Democratic candidates have similar views on the issues and make everyone in the party feel like they are important and that their concerns were being heard.
4. Strengthen the Coalition
Every political party has a specific coalition that they depend on during elections to vote for their candidates. On the Democratic side their coalition, or base, consists of minorities including African Americans and Hispanics, younger voters, people who tend not to associate with a specific religion, members of the LGBT community, and people who live on the East or West coasts of the country. By focusing on issues that members of these communities care about such as immigration reform, decreasing the economic inequality among classes, and creating affordable college, the Democratic Nominee will know that on the first Tuesday in November when these groups go vote that they will be voting Democratic. However, the Democratic Nominee cannot depend solely on these people to win the election for them. The nominee will have to broaden their message to a certain degree so that Independents or other undecided voters will consider voting for the Democratic candidate rather than the Republican one.
5. Us vs. Them Mentality
Due to the extremely polarized political world that we currently live in, it is necessary for the Democratic Nominee to play into this mindset of Us vs. Them in order to win the general election. This strategy can work better than it may have in previous election cycles because this year's elections have seem some very nontraditional candidates on the Republican side. By exploiting these characteristics that show how unqualified and disrespectful some of the Republican candidates have been, it could show voters that the Democratic Nominee is much more qualified and trustful to be the next president than the Republican Nominee could ever be. However, the way in which the Democratic Nominee creates this image cannot be extremely explicit. Instead they would need to show their qualifications through campaign ads, speeches, and endorsements rather than simply stating that the Republicans are bad and the Democrats are good because this type of speech could backfire on the Democrats and make them seem greedy more than anything else.
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