Abstract
Bitecofer demonstrates that the Clinton campaign’s choice to prioritize a persuasion electoral strategy over a base mobilization strategy in the 2016 presidential election cost Hillary Clinton the election. The nomination of Donald Trump by the Republican Party presented the Clinton campaign with a unique opportunity to court Independent voters and disaffected Republicans. Their persuasion approach was cemented with the selection of Tim Kaine, a centrist senator from Virginia, over progressive firebrand Senator Elizabeth Warren. The Clinton campaign structured their entire campaign message as a referendum on Donald Trump’s fitness for office. Not only did their strategy fail to win over Independents but it also further isolated many Bernie Sanders voters who defected in large numbers to cast ballots for third-party and write-in candidates.
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Bitecofer, R. (2018). What (Really) Happened. In: The Unprecedented 2016 Presidential Election . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61976-7_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61976-7_9
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Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
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