Polarization & Bias

All candidates must be mindful of how they present themselves, whether it is through their advertising, political debates, or in their daily lives. This is extremely important for candidates and if done correctly it will help maintain a positive image for them. It is also important for candidates to try and reach a large audience as well as both parties. There is always an opportunity to get somebody of the other party to side with them so while maintaining this positive image it is important to do so while also reaching both parties.

As you all know, Walker is no longer in the 2016 Presidential race there are still many people who are still both for as well as against his decision to drop out. Walker will continue to participate in politics in the state of Wisconsin and his views are still relevant. 

The first article which I read talked about Walker and his stance on abortion. The article is titled, “Scott Walker calls abortion to save a woman’s life a ‘false’ choice”. As I dug deeper I found that there were many people disagreeing with Walkers opinion as well as his decision to defund planned parenthood thus making this article more of a liberal approach. However, this liberal source was definitely not a positive one. People disagreed with Walkers decision to practice Pro-Life in Wisconsin with the exception of rape cases, incest, or the life and health of the mother. Still, many people are arguing that there are extreme health risks with this Pro-Life law. 

I also explored an article from August, 2015 which discussed Walker and his stance on the Canadian border. This article explained that he believes building a wall along the country’s border with Canada is an issue which needs to be further discussed and acted upon. Being from Fox News alone his article was more of a conservative source. In conclusion this article summed up Walkers opinion on the border as well as connected it with the opinion of candidate Donald Trump. 

In general, its hard to say what is fair and unfair when looking at different sources discussing Walker. A lot of what is said is out of his hands which can cause it to be unfair, however sometimes that information is extremely important for the American people to hear and know. Overall, I believe that both of these articles are informal and give accurate information to the readers about different issues and from different viewpoints. I think that these sources could also sway voters as stated earlier. 

Sources: 

http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/scott-walker-calls-abortion-to-save-a-womans-life-a-false-choice-b99553080z1-321141741.html

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/08/30/walker-says-wall-along-canadian-border-worth-reviewing/

http://cdn.newsbusters.org/styles/blog_body-50/s3/images/Walker%20Bans%20Choice%20EDITED.JPG

http://urbanmilwaukee.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/walker-wall.jpg

Advertising

Walker won a second term as Governor of Wisconsin in 2014. I decided to look back at his advertisements to analyze the different approaches he took through these advertisements. I found a couple of different ads in which I believe were relevant in his re-election. 

The first advertisement is a television ad in which Walker states his opinion on abortion. 

I have mixed emotions about this ad due solely to the fact that there is not much creativity behind it. However, I like that Walker is very honest and open throughout the ad saying exactly what he believes needs to be done and why. He does so in a very respectful way and the ad itself is not attacking or demeaning to anybody. Overall, I think that this ad created a candidate-positive image. 

I can’t say the same about a national women's group based in Washington, D.C. called EMILY’s List who ended up attacking this ad. (link posted below)

http://www.channel3000.com/news/reality-check-dueling-ads-detail-abortion-bill/29017880

I then found multiple attack ads between Walker and former Wisconsin Secretary of Commerce, Mary Burke who unlike Walker is a Democrat. In the link attached below, there are four different ads, two done by Burke’s campaign and two by Walker’s. 

http://www.c-span.org/video/?322148-1/wisconsin-gubernatorial-campaign-ads

The first ad was done by Scott Walkers Campaign. The very first thing said is that Mary Burke lied about her jobs plan and it was also plagiarized. Walker is directly attacking Burke here and even calls her out for attacking his campaign. 

Mary Burke responds to Walkers ad by attacking right back. Her ad begins in a very similar fashion where she is stating that he said he was going to create more jobs as well as that he was going to be responsible and hold that promise. She ends by saying “Scott Walker’s not working for you”. 

Scott Walker then responds with yet another attack ad. 

I think that these ads actually make both Walker and Burke look bad. All they are doing is attacking each other instead of shining light on their own campaign and focusing on what they have to bring to the table. I think that these hate ads were being done simply because each Walker and Burke used their weaknesses and slip ups as a way to show why one another were not qualified to be governor of Wisconsin. I think that a better approach for Walker, instead of replying to Burkes attack ad with another attack ad I think he should have transformed his weaknesses into a positive. 

I thought the first example shown earlier was a much better and classier approach for Walker. He was honest and straight forward creating a positive image for himself. 

Another example where Walker was creating a good image would be this ad which he also used in 2014: 

This ad is very positive, creative and portrays a good message without attacking anybody. 

Walker in the Polls

Friday, October 9

Race/Topic   (Click to Sort)	Poll	Results	Spread
New Hampshire Republican Presidential Primary	Gravis	Trump 32, Fiorina 8, Carson 13, Bush 8, Kasich 10, Rubio 8, Cruz 5, Christie 3, Paul 2, Graham 1, Huckabee, Walker, Santorum 1, Jindal, Pataki	Trump +19
New Hampshire 2016 Democratic Primary	Gravis	Sanders 33, Clinton 30, Biden 11, O'Malley 2, Webb 1, Chafee 1	Sanders +3

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/latest_polls/president/

Above are the 2016 Presidential polls as of today, Oct 9, 2015. Everywhere you look, there are polls about the 2016 presidential race and where the current candidates stand. Although there is still a year left until the presidential election, it is easy to see which candidates have been lacking in the polls lately as well as who has been noticeably dominating those polls as well. Scott Walker was one of those candidates who seemed to drop in poll ratings before he finally decided to opt out of the race. 

Looking back at the poll history over the past couple of months, Scott Walker was doing quite well before his polls dropped dramatically. Some people were calling this dramatic drop Scott Walkers “Summer Plunge”. On September 1st, Walker was shown in the polls with less than 1% support nationally... After his drop out, Walkers ranking is not in the recent polls and his exclusion from these polls show why he is no longer running.

I think that Walker should have really focused on his dramatic decrease in polls and tackled that issue head on. He could have done a better job at figuring out where and why he was lacking in these polls and worked harder to raise his numbers which potentially could have resulted in more success in the 2016 presidential race.  

Debates

I have seen Scott Walker participate in a few recent debates such as the CNN Republican Debate that took place a few weeks ago. As I posted previously, that debate did not go very well for Scott, which I believe could have been one of the reasons he has dropped out of the race. Anyway, during the CNN Republican Debate, Walker was basically absent and did not have much to say or contribute. Considering his poor performance in the CNN Republican Debate, I decided to go back in time and watch one of his debates in which he participated in last year in 2014. This debate was between Scott Walker and Mary Burke. Mary Burke is the former Wisconsin Secretary of Commerce and the two of them were debating for the Wisconsin's Governor Race. The full debate is attached below: 

on.msnbc.com/1o8dDwo

Analyzing Walkers performance in the debate for Wisconsin’s Governor Race, I notice both strengths and weaknesses in debating skills. In his favor, Walker knows what he wants for the state of Wisconsin and for the United States as a whole. I think this aspect is great and very important. However, when asked specific questions-which don’t always involve his beliefs- Walker answers, but he does so in a very inefficient manor. Walker has a way of wording around the question and coming up with answers that don’t always answer the specific question asked.  In my opinion, when he words around the questions, it makes him look weak. 

I don’t know what makes him look worse, being quiet and not contributing enough or not giving his audience efficient answers. If I was Walkers Campaign advisor the first piece of advice I would give him would (obviously) be to answer the questions honestly and completely. I would suggest for him to try and be more efficient during his debates and the answers he was providing. Not directly answering the questions at hand is unprofessional and it seemed as though Walker was rambling on during his debate with Mary Burke, he was repeating points that he had already made. So, I would advise for him to not be as repetitive and be more open to discussing the other issues at hand. 

On the other hand, I would also encourage him to speak up when necessary. Referring back to the CNN Republican Debate when he barely spoke at all, this was a huge disadvantage for him. I know it sounds contradictory because the first piece of advice would have for him is to ‘quit rambling’ but that doesn’t mean don't talk! I would definitely encourage Walker to find a happy medium where he spoke just the right amount. Not too much and not too little, while still getting his point across. 

Since Walker is no longer running, I don’t think he will have to worry about his debate performance for a while now. However, I would advise him to work on his weaknesses when it comes to his debate performance as well as continue to strengthen his positive debate strategies even further.