Six days ago Gallup published a poll showing two-thirds of Americans feel that the presidential election process is broken. Meanwhile, at a journalism award dinner, President ObamaĀ critiqued the media for itās role in how this yearās election has played out.Ā Ā In light of these stories, it seemed like a good week to look at the current American presidential election process from a few different viewpoints.
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SnippetsĀ from the Right
Fox News
āWe are now at the point in this political season where everyone is hating on everyone else.Think about it: When was the last time you saw a piece or watched a segment in which a candidate was portrayed positively?
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Presidential campaigns are a tough business where every contender gets roughed up as the price of admission. But the level of vitriolāthe pundits against Donald Trump and his rivals, and the candidates sliming each otherāhas spiraled way out of control.
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It hasnāt been Morning in America for a long time. In fact, itās pretty close to a dark and stormyĀ midnight.
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And the hyperspeed news cycle has all this unfolding at a head-snapping pace, like an endless feed of Twitter taunts.ā¦This is a reality show campaign in which reality, perhaps in the form of terror attacks, sometimes intrudes. It is endlessly entertaining, but often feels like tragicomedy with no heroes.ā
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Snippets from the Left
Salon
āāTrump has been able to disrupt the news pretty much any time he wants,ā Silver wrote, āwhether by being newsworthy, offensive, salacious or entertaining. The media has almost always played along.ā
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Of course, the press has played along ā it canāt do otherwise. A corporatized media has turned citizens into consumers, and politicians into products. Trump understands this and he acts accordingly ā itās really quite simple. His whole career has been about brand management, which is now all the training a national politician needs.
ā¦Put another way, Trump has hacked the system and exposed the weaknesses in American political institutions. Heās uncovered profound flaws in the Republican Party. Heās demonstrated that third-rail issues like racism and nationalism can still be a potent political force. Heās exploited the mediaās goodwill and taken advantage of the lack of trust the American public has in journalism.ā
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Snippets from the Center
Gallup
āIt is unclear from the data if partisans are reacting to the developments in their own party's nomination race, the other party's nomination race or both. Republicans' increasingly dour sentiments may be related to Trump -- either the increasing inevitability that he will gain his party's nomination, or the way controversial aspects of his campaign have dominated the news. Trump is the least popular Republican nominee among members of his own party in recent elections going back to 1996, and he is much less well-liked than Hillary Clinton is among Democrats. Democrats' more stable but still cynical views may be based on their views of what is happening on the GOP side, or they may not be pleased with something about their own party's campaign.
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Another factor could be the increasingly contentious campaigns, particularly on the Republican side, where personal attacks have been an almost daily occurrence and violence between supporters and protestors has broken out at some Trump rallies.ā
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