Blog Question #5 -- Polling

Polls have been coming out predicting the candidates for the 2016 presidential election for awhile now. Try to find some polls that include your candidate. Based on your candidate's inclusion (or exclusion) from these polls, what story do they tell? Is your candidate a front-runner, or does s/he have a mountain to climb? More importantly, what can we really learn from polls nearly two years before the election? Use your knowledge of polling (based on your reading ... and maybe a little research!) to write about your informed opinions on this topic.

Blog Question #4 -- Political Language

Try to find a piece of political "writing" that was written/delivered by your candidate (e.g. a personal statement from his/her website, a section of a debate from a previous election, a speech, etc.) Link to your source material so we can all see/read it. Then analyze the political language. Which functions of political language are being fulfilled? How? Is it successful or not? Which functions of political language are not present? Why? Try to "read between the lines." What is the candidate saying? What is the candidate not saying?

Blog Question #3 -- Online Presence

Spend some time evaluating your candidate's current online presence. Does s/he have a website? What social media platforms is s/he participating on right now (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, etc.)? How active is your candidate on each of these platforms? Are  there any viral videos or important online sites about your candidate (that the candidate and/or campaign/staff didn't create?)

Write about what you find. Then based on what your findings are, come up with a plan for what your candidate needs to do to boost his/her online presence in 2016. What should s/he be doing now? What will need to be done in the future?

Blog Question #2 -- Image and Issues

Your second blog should tell us about your candidate's image and issue stances. 

First, what do you think your candidate's public image is currently? Are there things s/he should try to cultivate as part of his/her image to be more successful? Make an argument.

Secondly, do a quick SWOT analysis for your candidate. What are his/her major strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in 2016?

Finally, Describe the issue positions of your candidate. What issues do you think your candidate will highlight? What issues should they highlight in 2016? What are they running on? What issues become focal?

Your blog posts should be approx. 500 words. They should include links, images, multimedia, etc. when appropriate (which is probably always -- what better way to keep your audience interested?) More information is provided in an assignment sheet on Blackboard.