Week III: Barack Obama (Part Two)

In last week's post, I addressed the many ways in which Barack Obama impacted Hillary Clinton's campaign. After my research, I was surprised to see how much Obama had (unintentionally) negatively affected Clinton's campaign. But after learning this, I was far less shocked to see how much the former President actually helped the opponent to his desired successor.

President Barack Obama garnered unprecedented support from millennials and young voters, but he also garnered a lot of hate. If we look at Congress' behavior during his terms, we can see the party polarization first hand at every inability to compromise and in the 2013 government shutdown. Most importantly, Gallup polls prove Obama was one of the most polarizing Presidents in American history, demonstrating how divided the American people were in their opinions of the 44th President.

Because of this polarization, Trump had an advantage. While Clinton was burdened with trying to keep the support Obama had and trying to gain the support of those who had developed a strong disdain for the President, Trump could rely on this disdain to motivate voters to, at the very least, not support Clinton. Trump was able to capitalize on this alienation of right/middle-leaning voters to create his own base of support. I will talk more on this later, but this polarization, combined with the polarization that accompanied Hillary Clinton, laid the foundation Trump needed to move forward with his agenda, while Clinton was still struggling to stand on the Democratic support she had.

The idea that right-leaning voters would be attracted to any alternative to Barack Obama begs the question, why Donald Trump? Personally, I think it has a lot to do with Donald Trump's timing.

Many Americans may have been surprised to see Donald Trump come forward as a political figure in time for the 2016 election. For myself and friends my age, we wondered why someone we had only known as a reality television star and business man would put himself at the center of the political stage. What we failed to realize was that Donald Trump had been standing on the outside of politics for decades, intermittently interjecting just enough commentary to keep himself relevant. But in 2011, he made himself well-known to the population of anti-Obama voters that made up his key support group when he questioned the President's birthplace. (Here's a CNN video that outlines his Birther movement involvement.)

Although he wasn't the only member of the "Birther" movement, Donald Trump was a key public figure that took part in a lot of interviews and public questioning. Although Trump did come forward later and announce that he did in fact believe that Barack Obama was born in the US, his initial involvement in the movement was key to gaining support in 2016.

Rather than simply declaring he was an "outsider" who was anti-Obama, Trump's name was prevalent in the minds of these voters because of his involvement back in 2011. Senator Ted Cruz, who wasn't even elected to the Senate until 2013, or Governor John Kasich, elected in 2010, were the fellow front runners in 2016. But they hadn't necessarily come to the public forefront of an Obama opposition until after Donald Trump had already taken hold of the public eye.

But there were still ways in which Obama hurt Donald Trump. Obama's popularity among millennials, and his deep admiration from Democrats, secured a section of the population from ever being swayed by Trump. But ultimately, Hillary was also alienated from this portion of the population, which was far more crucial to her success.

Below is the Barack Obama mind map. This one was a lot more fun to make, but I have to credit Mr. Westbay for a lot of the creative inspiration. Hope you enjoyed reading this week! Leave a comment below!