Presidential Elections and Peaceful Transitions

Presidential Elections and Peaceful Transitions

The first strategy that is often times used during a presidential campaign is giving special attention to swing states. Attempting to sway a state in your favor is a lot easier than trying to change the opinion of a strictly one sided state. Another strategy that is often used, but can be a hit or miss, is having a very public opinion on a touch subject. There have been battles back and forth about subjects such as legalizing gay marriage and abortion rights. Having a concrete opinion on these matters can gain you many votes, but it can also cost you many. The 2008 Obama Presidential election was the first campaign to effectively make use of social media as a major campaign strategy. It’s easy to forget that social media was not as big back then as it is today, given how universal social media is today. Back in 2008, sending out voting reminders on Twitter and interacting with people on Facebook was a major change.  When Obama announced his candidacy in 2007, Twitter had only just started and iPhone was not even released yet.