close
Argument Essay
There is a tricky yet interesting news that when asked, “Which candidate will you vote for if tomorrow will be the vote date?” more than a half of the American would say they will vote for Barack Obama. However, CNN confirmed in its nationwide survey in June, 2008 that when continually asked, “Which candidate do you think has a greater chance of winning the election?” most people might say John McCain. This fact indicates that most people like Obama more than McCain, but people do not think Obama will win, which means Obama needs to increase his trustworthiness and reliability. Nevertheless, while many people may argue that Obama is inexperienced, and that race has still been an issue for him, there is some strong evidence showing that Obama has a better chance of winning the election due to three reasons: the latest polls, his personal characteristics, and the recent media coverage.
First of all, most of the latest polls all claimed that Barack Obama’s support has been ahead of that of John McCain, although the margin between them is very tiny. In addition, Obama has won considerable support from the Latino group. A new poll released on Thursday by the nationwide Pew Hispanic Center exhibited overwhelming support from Latinos for Barack Obama, showing that Obama’s approval rate with registered Latino voters is at 66 percent, versus 23 percent who favored McCain. Moreover, Gallop Poll represented a similar result. Gallop Poll Daily tracking of national registered voters’ presidential election preferences claimed, “Barack Obama has a slight advantage over John McCain, 45% to 43%.” Likewise, CNN’s latest poll also demonstrated the same result as well, saying that Barack Obama holds a 4-point lead over John McCain. “The Illinois senator is at 47 percent with McCain standing at 43 percent. About 10 percent say they are undecided,” CNN reported. All of this evidence shows that if the cut-throat competition continues, and if the support between McCain and Obama stays the same until November, it is clear that Obama has a better chance of winning the campaign, albeit by a slim margin.
Second, character matters. It is no doubt that both McCain and Obama are brilliant leaders. Both of them demonstrate successful leadership to catch people’s attention, to believe them and then to follow them. However, Obama has an inherently unique characteristic which is missing in McCain. That is charisma. The hot-selling of campaign merchandise can be deemed a clear indication of a candidate’s charisma. No matter which kind of elections, from as small as a congress election to a huge presidential election, the candidates will usually produce a number of campaign products, such as T-shirts, badges, baseball caps, backpacks and other peripheral products, for their supporters to collect, on the other hand, to raise election funds and to promote themselves simultaneously. Nowadays, the sales of campaign merchandise can somehow be a popularity indicator to show the preference of candidates in the public. If people are willing to spend time waiting in a line to buy a candidate’s product, that could mean something. If people regard the candidate’s product as an honor icon, and would like to wear it, proudly displaying it on the road, that could mean something. “We sell about 70 percent Obama stuff – way more than McCain,” a sidewalk vender said in Washington, “In the plain black T-shirt with the candidate’s photo, I’ve sold 8,700 for Obama since June 15, but the same garb with McCain’s picture just has sold 650 units.” Some might dispute that McCain’s supporters probably don’t wear T-shirts. This is not true. Everybody more or less wears T-shirts. It is nothing to do with clothes, but with how much they support the candidate they believe in.
Furthermore, the media’s coverage has an enormous influence on the election. Mass media shapes the way we see the world. Journalists and mass media are information gatekeepers. They determine what we should know, and what we shouldn’t know. They also lead people how to think. An individual, for instance, doesn’t have the opportunity to go to Iraq to see how terrible the war is, so he or she has to heavily rely on the mass media, including TV, newspapers, magazines or news websites, to gain the knowledge about the world. If a journalist hides the positives, presenting it in a negative way, it will lead people to think negatively. Not only is how the news gets presented crucial, but how often the media’s attention to a topic also raises individual’s awareness. With powerful agenda setting and agenda building capabilities, the mass media builds the audience’s worldview about what issues are the most important issues to them. For example, if the media constantly reports the war in Iraq, it guides the public to think that the war is the top issue for America, which will obviously benefit Barack Obama, as the majority of American is against the war. On the contrary, if the mass media incessantly focuses on how many people can’t afford to pay for housing, how many people don’t have money to let their children go to school, and how many people are losing their jobs now, it will lead the public to think that economy is the top issue to tackle, which is said to be beneficial to John McCain, while Obama is considered relatively inexperienced in governance compared with McCain.
Apparently, the media favors Obama. Obama has been the media focus since he went for his international tour. John McCain’s campaign spokesman harshly criticized that the media is enraptured with Barack Obama, especially during the presumptive Democratic nominee’s international tour. They put up some figures to show that the reporters trying to help Obama win in November has grown by five percentage points over the past month. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey found that 49% of voters believe most reporters will try to help the Democrat with their coverage, up from 44% a month ago. Just 14% believe most reporters will try to help McCain win, little changed from 13% a month ago. Just one voter in four (24%) believes that most reporters will try to offer unbiased coverage. CNN’s reporter, Austen Williams, also admitted that the spotlight is on Sen. Barack Obama as he makes his way through the Middle East.
Opponents may argue that race is still a huge barrier for Obama, although the Civil Rights Movement has occurred nearly half a century ago. I don’t see that is an issue for Obama. On the other hand, the black identity could be an advantage for him. A poll, taken by CNN from June 9 to July 13, examined the effect of race in the presidential election. In the survey, it indicates that by a margin of about 3-to-1 respondents said Obama's race would help him as opposed to hurt him with Latino voters. Fifty-three percent said his race wouldn't be a big factor in their support. In contrast, the survey says that by a margin of 2-to-1 respondents said McCain’s race will hurt rather than help his chances. Fifty-eight percent said McCain's race will "make no difference.” Furthermore, race helps Obama unite his vote in the black community.
To sum up, both Obama and McCain position themselves as revolutionists. Their economic, foreign and immigrant policies still have plenty of room to debate and improve. Both of their platforms have pros and cons; therefore, it is difficult to judge for now who is right, and who is wrong, or who is better. It is disputable. However, from some peripheral cues and climate changes- polls, candidate’s personal charisma and media preferences, I firmly believe that Obama has a better chance of winning the 2008 presidential election.
There is a tricky yet interesting news that when asked, “Which candidate will you vote for if tomorrow will be the vote date?” more than a half of the American would say they will vote for Barack Obama. However, CNN confirmed in its nationwide survey in June, 2008 that when continually asked, “Which candidate do you think has a greater chance of winning the election?” most people might say John McCain. This fact indicates that most people like Obama more than McCain, but people do not think Obama will win, which means Obama needs to increase his trustworthiness and reliability. Nevertheless, while many people may argue that Obama is inexperienced, and that race has still been an issue for him, there is some strong evidence showing that Obama has a better chance of winning the election due to three reasons: the latest polls, his personal characteristics, and the recent media coverage.
First of all, most of the latest polls all claimed that Barack Obama’s support has been ahead of that of John McCain, although the margin between them is very tiny. In addition, Obama has won considerable support from the Latino group. A new poll released on Thursday by the nationwide Pew Hispanic Center exhibited overwhelming support from Latinos for Barack Obama, showing that Obama’s approval rate with registered Latino voters is at 66 percent, versus 23 percent who favored McCain. Moreover, Gallop Poll represented a similar result. Gallop Poll Daily tracking of national registered voters’ presidential election preferences claimed, “Barack Obama has a slight advantage over John McCain, 45% to 43%.” Likewise, CNN’s latest poll also demonstrated the same result as well, saying that Barack Obama holds a 4-point lead over John McCain. “The Illinois senator is at 47 percent with McCain standing at 43 percent. About 10 percent say they are undecided,” CNN reported. All of this evidence shows that if the cut-throat competition continues, and if the support between McCain and Obama stays the same until November, it is clear that Obama has a better chance of winning the campaign, albeit by a slim margin.
Second, character matters. It is no doubt that both McCain and Obama are brilliant leaders. Both of them demonstrate successful leadership to catch people’s attention, to believe them and then to follow them. However, Obama has an inherently unique characteristic which is missing in McCain. That is charisma. The hot-selling of campaign merchandise can be deemed a clear indication of a candidate’s charisma. No matter which kind of elections, from as small as a congress election to a huge presidential election, the candidates will usually produce a number of campaign products, such as T-shirts, badges, baseball caps, backpacks and other peripheral products, for their supporters to collect, on the other hand, to raise election funds and to promote themselves simultaneously. Nowadays, the sales of campaign merchandise can somehow be a popularity indicator to show the preference of candidates in the public. If people are willing to spend time waiting in a line to buy a candidate’s product, that could mean something. If people regard the candidate’s product as an honor icon, and would like to wear it, proudly displaying it on the road, that could mean something. “We sell about 70 percent Obama stuff – way more than McCain,” a sidewalk vender said in Washington, “In the plain black T-shirt with the candidate’s photo, I’ve sold 8,700 for Obama since June 15, but the same garb with McCain’s picture just has sold 650 units.” Some might dispute that McCain’s supporters probably don’t wear T-shirts. This is not true. Everybody more or less wears T-shirts. It is nothing to do with clothes, but with how much they support the candidate they believe in.
Furthermore, the media’s coverage has an enormous influence on the election. Mass media shapes the way we see the world. Journalists and mass media are information gatekeepers. They determine what we should know, and what we shouldn’t know. They also lead people how to think. An individual, for instance, doesn’t have the opportunity to go to Iraq to see how terrible the war is, so he or she has to heavily rely on the mass media, including TV, newspapers, magazines or news websites, to gain the knowledge about the world. If a journalist hides the positives, presenting it in a negative way, it will lead people to think negatively. Not only is how the news gets presented crucial, but how often the media’s attention to a topic also raises individual’s awareness. With powerful agenda setting and agenda building capabilities, the mass media builds the audience’s worldview about what issues are the most important issues to them. For example, if the media constantly reports the war in Iraq, it guides the public to think that the war is the top issue for America, which will obviously benefit Barack Obama, as the majority of American is against the war. On the contrary, if the mass media incessantly focuses on how many people can’t afford to pay for housing, how many people don’t have money to let their children go to school, and how many people are losing their jobs now, it will lead the public to think that economy is the top issue to tackle, which is said to be beneficial to John McCain, while Obama is considered relatively inexperienced in governance compared with McCain.
Apparently, the media favors Obama. Obama has been the media focus since he went for his international tour. John McCain’s campaign spokesman harshly criticized that the media is enraptured with Barack Obama, especially during the presumptive Democratic nominee’s international tour. They put up some figures to show that the reporters trying to help Obama win in November has grown by five percentage points over the past month. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey found that 49% of voters believe most reporters will try to help the Democrat with their coverage, up from 44% a month ago. Just 14% believe most reporters will try to help McCain win, little changed from 13% a month ago. Just one voter in four (24%) believes that most reporters will try to offer unbiased coverage. CNN’s reporter, Austen Williams, also admitted that the spotlight is on Sen. Barack Obama as he makes his way through the Middle East.
Opponents may argue that race is still a huge barrier for Obama, although the Civil Rights Movement has occurred nearly half a century ago. I don’t see that is an issue for Obama. On the other hand, the black identity could be an advantage for him. A poll, taken by CNN from June 9 to July 13, examined the effect of race in the presidential election. In the survey, it indicates that by a margin of about 3-to-1 respondents said Obama's race would help him as opposed to hurt him with Latino voters. Fifty-three percent said his race wouldn't be a big factor in their support. In contrast, the survey says that by a margin of 2-to-1 respondents said McCain’s race will hurt rather than help his chances. Fifty-eight percent said McCain's race will "make no difference.” Furthermore, race helps Obama unite his vote in the black community.
To sum up, both Obama and McCain position themselves as revolutionists. Their economic, foreign and immigrant policies still have plenty of room to debate and improve. Both of their platforms have pros and cons; therefore, it is difficult to judge for now who is right, and who is wrong, or who is better. It is disputable. However, from some peripheral cues and climate changes- polls, candidate’s personal charisma and media preferences, I firmly believe that Obama has a better chance of winning the 2008 presidential election.
全站熱搜
留言列表
