Don’t Expect A Shake-Up In The Polls Until Both Candidates Start General Debates
It is a political tradition for rival candidates to sling mud at each other and this year is, of course, no exception. But one should take further notice as to when the slung mud sticks. And so far, most of it has been sticking to Donald Trump.
The polls for the candidates’ popularity have practically remained the same since the Inquisitr wrote that Donald Trump was falling behind after the Democratic National Convention.
As to these poll numbers, many have said that they are easily manipulated by the media. When faced with them, Donald Trump’s campaign team have squirmed on national television, trying find a way to make excuses and saying the polls are invalid. But time and time again, there they are, forcing the candidates and the voters to take them seriously and to consider their choices.
On August 30, Public Policy Polling (PPP) showed that Hillary Clinton was still in the lead but falling a bit behind. This has happened briefly before, but one can see the bigger picture in the general election chart offered by the Huffington Posts‘ Pollster site, which includes the latest polling from the PPP along with other services.
Poll of polls @HuffingtonPost pic.twitter.com/nvRRTtQ7pu
— David Goalstone (@ghostwriterREAL) August 22, 2016
The PPP results also show that both candidates have fallen in their popularity with the general electorate, which has also increased the percentage for third-party candidates along the way.
Again, all of this is media driven. So even when one doesn’t trust the poll numbers, they’re forced to contend with daily news reporting around the clock to get a better idea as to where both candidates stand with the public.
Many claim that there has been very little talk about the issues. But in fact, there’s already been plenty of talk about the issues that Americans want to talk about, which is obvious from the debates and throughout the race.
This also depends on what each side views as an important issue to discuss, which in this unconventional year is constantly dependent on the limitation of one of the candidates, the same candidate who either deflects the conversation or misunderstands it to the point of creating a distraction to keep themselves in the headlines. At that point, the media can be blamed for not covering the issues and just reporting on the distraction.
Hillary Clinton has had and has a lot to endure, where “doubt” is created to try and manipulate positive support toward her. In general, it seems to work because the media repeatedly says that people are reluctant to vote for her because many feel that she cannot be trusted. All of that distrust is entirely manufactured from conservative media, only to make it harder for her to win even though the rival party also has an unpopular candidate, so unpopular that he’s popular again.
With regard to Hillary Clinton, the manufactured doubt around both the Clinton Foundation and her e-mails has run its course, and the attention to both “scandals” is now running on fumes, but just enough to be refueled again when Congress returns from its seven-week break in September.
That’s because the Republican-led Congress has promised to hold more hearings with signs of similar action against the Obama administration — over the ransom or leverage deal with Iran — in order to sell the idea that she would be more of the same, as well as a bold effort to convince those left undecided on both candidates that America has been in a disastrous limbo for eight years under a liberal administration.
It is possible that were it not for Donald Trump’s antics, Hillary Clinton would be in a much tighter spot and we would be looking at completely different polls. At this point, however, it appears that the media is also helping to discredit Donald Trump, as it currently looks like a slow period in the news about the billionaire’s antics.
A recent article by the Inquisitr talked about Donald Trump’s lashing out at Morning Joe, which seemed as more of the same from the candidate and did little to improve his standing with the general electorate.
https://twitter.com/coton_luver/status/771074868720734208
Now, the media has focused on the Alternative Right or Alt-Right label in order to introduce the nationalistic perspective of CEO Stephen Bannon’s new campaign, trying to familiarize the public with his campaign being a possible threat.
There are also currently big question marks around Donald Trump’s meeting in Mexico with president Enrique Peña Nieto, which would be normal for any other candidate. But since he’s talked about building a huge wall along the Mexican-American border and has referred to Mexico as sending nothing but “criminals and rapists” to American and not sending their best, there’s been a stand-off in the relationship between Hispanics in the United States, who largely reject Trump.
The next major shake-up to the polls should be when both candidates debate each other. And unless there’s another distraction along the way to shake them up before then, there’s a solid chance that Hillary Clinton will still be ahead in the polls.
[Photo by AP Images]