Even for former U.S. President Donald Trump, a master at attention-getting, trying to counterprogram during the Democratic National Convention is nearly impossible.
When one party’s members and supporters gather for their biggest party every four years, the other party routinely endures a week of being largely ignored, no matter how creative or dramatic its own counterprogramming efforts may be.
That doesn’t mean that opposing party campaigns should go on vacation during convention week. They can and do make their case regarding the upcoming election while the other party honors its nominees.
But with all the reporters and public attention focused on the convention, these four-day gatherings are far from optimal times for the opposing party to be heard.
The typically one-sided media attention of convention weeks is part of the reason that political campaigns usually see a post-convention bounce of a few percentage points. But the impact of conventions on public opinion used to be much greater in the past, when there was less political polarization.
Convention bounce
In 1992, for instance, Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton was a single percentage point behind incumbent GOP President George H.W. Bush when the Democratic convention started. After the convention, Clinton was up by 29 points.
The best an opposing party can hope for during convention week is a convention misfire.
The trouble is, such debacles rarely happen in an era where the presidential selection process is usually absent any last-minute drama. Designed to minimize controversy, the conventions themselves have become ever more scripted.
That wasn’t always the case.
The tumultuous Democratic convention of 1968 created lots of opportunities for Republicans to draw attention to the chaotic scene in Chicago – and, by extension, the chaos within the Democratic Party. But they didn’t need to do so, because the nationally televised images of Chicago riot police using tear gas and billy clubs to subdue anti-Vietnam War demonstrators spoke for themselves.
Even for former U.S. President Donald Trump, a master at attention-getting, trying to counterprogram during the Democratic National Convention is nearly impossible.
When one party’s members and supporters gather for their biggest party every four years, the other party routinely endures a week of being largely ignored, no matter how creative or dramatic its own counterprogramming efforts may be.
That doesn’t mean that opposing party campaigns should go on vacation during convention week. They can and do make their case regarding the upcoming election while the other party honors its nominees.
But with all the reporters and public attention focused on the convention, these four-day gatherings are far from optimal times for the opposing party to be heard.
North Carolina Republican gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson has vowed to remain in his race despite a CNN media report about inflammatory comments it says he made online
North Carolina Republican nominee for governor Mark Robinson speaks with CNN's Andrew Kaczynski and denies making a series of inflammatory comments on a pornography website’s message board more than a decade ago, as revealed in a CNN report.
From Iranian hacking to Russian influence campaigns, the 2024 presidential campaign is encountering a spate of efforts by foreign adversaries to weaken faith in the outcome and potentially alter the results