I was assigned the year 1996 for both political parties. This really felt like I was looking into a time capsule of all the things that were important to Americans in the 90’s. For example, I had no idea the issue of immigration was so bipartisan at the time! Democrats are now so adamant on running a platform of inclusivity, that it really threw me off hearing such racist things coming from the Democratic party. I mean now I’m not as naive as I used to be, and realize that BOTH parties are pretty problematic when it comes to immigration, but I think those ads really confirmed to me the fact that the democratic party has only recently aligned with a more ethical approach to immigration in order to secure the Liberal/ minority vote. Super sad.
However, overall I think my favorite ads all came from, surprisingly, the Republican candidate. Maybe my overall distain for Clinton swayed me in that direction, but I found that the ethos Bob Dole brought to his advertisements were extremely effective. Although I believe personal stories like the ones he used are more effective in local elections than national ones, it felt like a breath of fresh air to see political ads that weren’t so slanderous. Now a days I feel like political ads are just a bunch of literal BS that do not even hold the candidate accountable to their policy plans or financial plans- Just a space for old white guys to say how much they hate each other.
My absolute favorite ad of the whole thing would have to have been the drug related one from Bob Dole- Not because I believe it to have been the most effective, but because it was 1. Hilarious to see a video of Clinton saying that he “inhaled but did not hold”, and 2. See the beginning of this kind of yellow journalism in political campaigns that we have grown so accustomed to. Candidates have shifted their attention away from their policies (Probably because if they didn’t we’d all start to notice that Democrats and Republicans are one in the same in every way but name) and instead focus on destroying the character of their opponent. Overall as a poly-sci major I was kind of geeking out through the whole thing- super cool website and activity as a whole!
I also thought it was really interesting to see what kinds of policies were important to Americans before 9/11 and the 2008 recession because I feel like those have defined politics for the past two decades. As for your point about liking the republican candidate, I’ve heard from many people that the republican party has changed a lot over the past few decades and grown to be far more right-wing than it was in the past, which could explain you agreeing more with Dole’s policies and tactics.
Awesome analysis! I have been interested in drugs use throughout American history since learning a great deal about the issue in various classes at UR. Its very fascinating to see the depiction of drugs within different time periods. The culture varies from decade to decade and it shows through different ads.