Public Relations Focus – Politics

Hey y’all!

This week we will be covering the importance of public relations in politics, a topic that gets more prevalent the closer we get to the presidential election. I will be focusing on the third Republican primary debate, featuring Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott, Chris Christie, and Vivek Ramaswamy. Article linked below.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/09/us/politics/who-won-debate-republican.html

The article summarizes each candidate’s performance at the Republican primary debate held in Miami, Flo. on Nov. 8. It discusses each candidate’s position on major issues, personal campaign promises, and interactions with other candidates, whether they were on the stage or off.

Public relations is important in politics because most people do not want to vote someone who seems like they will misuse power into a position of power. And politicians as a whole tend to have a negative reputation just by virtue of being a politician. After all, it’s much easier to listen to negative things than to listen to the positive. And that’s where public relations comes into play.

A politician’s public relations specialist manages their public image, often having a hand in maintaining social media accounts, releasing statements to the media, and managing crisis situations. Maintaining social media accounts can look like creating and posting content and responding to comments on posts. Releasing statements to the media can look like hosting press conferences or sending out press releases to get the facts out there. Managing crisis situations involves both internal and external crises, and a PR professional usually is on top of whatever situation is unfolding.

But how does this apply to the linked news article?

All politicians have some form of a public relations specialist on their team. Each candidate was likely told about issues that their constituents cared about, what they should wear to best stay within their image, and what tone they should set in the debate to best make themselves memorable.

For example, the article notes how DeSantis made more of an effort to show empathy with voters, something that he was likely advised to do by a PR specialist. The article also includes several quotes from experts, like Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former director of strategic communications in the Trump administration. Any missteps that the candidates made will likely be reviewed and advised against for their next appearance. Of course, that doesn’t always mean that politicians listen to their PR specialist, but it does help.

As the presidential race ramps up, many will be looking to see how the candidates fare and who they can put their trust in. They’ll look to see which candidate has the platform that they agree with and has the reputation they can trust to get the job done.

So, if you are an American citizen who is able to vote, make sure to keep up to date on the news and register to vote in your home state. Your vote matters.