Presidential Quarterly

       With the first-ever direct Iranian attack on Israeli soil, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict has become more contentious now than ever. Considering such significance, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict has become an increasingly important political topic, with Biden's rhetoric and actions in the Middle East resulting in mixed perceptions regarding his electoral chances.       In the article "Israel's War in Gaza Became a Political Flashpoint. Will It Risk Biden's Coalition for Reelection?" authors Tal Axelrod and Gabriella Abdul-Hakim contend that Biden's support for Israel may affect his chances for reelection. With the "policy (of Biden) being unpopular in the Democratic Party," Biden himself might drive away votes. Converse to Axelrod and Abdul-Hakim, Thomas Gift & Julie Norman argue that the war in Gaza will not affect the president's chances, citing the lack in movement of Biden's poll numbers over time even after the s...

       Although Jill Stein has a virtually hopeless bid for the presidency in 2024, it is still important to compare the diversity in media coverage of Stein and her stances in order to have an additional example of how media outlets shape the perceptions of political figures. Similar to Joe Biden, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Donald Trump, and Nikki Haley, Stein is portrayed in many different ways by the media.       In the Article "Jill Stein Launches a Long-shot Green Party Presidential Campaign, Bringing Back Memories of 2016," author Adriana Gomez Licon presents Stein as a failed candidate from the start. Licon contends that Stein's "hard-left platform" is a problem that won't increase her "1% of the national vote" achieved in 2020 (Licon 2023).      Although Licon does portray Stein's policy as the reason for consistent failure in elections, authors Aaron Pellish and Gregory Krieg argue that it is the policy separation fro...

       With one of the biggest policy concerns of the 2024 election being energy, Biden's choice to institute a rule of mandating that over half of the cars and light trucks sold in the United States must be all-electric or hybrids by the year 2032. The media has reacted in many different ways, with some saying that this decision may hurt his chances in 2024 while others say the move strengthens it.       In the article "Biden Finalizes Crackdown on Gas Cars, Forcing More than Half of New Car Sales to be Electric by 2030" author Thomas Catenacci presents this choice as a negative for Biden's electoral chances. Catenacci states that the decision is extremely restrictive and doesn't consider how it will impact Americans, for the move will prove to be "prohibitively expensive for most Americans" (Catenacci 2024). By forcing restrictive measures and unaffordable expectations, this move may harm Biden's chances of retaining the presidency. ...

       Although the primary elections for both the Democratic and Republican parties have concluded, some media outlets have suggested that the winner of the 2024 election might not be from one of the two major parties. With many Americans expressing discontent when it comes to the prospects of former President Trump and President Biden, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK) has become the alternative to the conventional party, with some media outlets contending that RFK does have a chance at the presidency while others deny any chance of another Kennedy presidency.      In the article "Republicans are starting to worry about RFK Jr." authors Lisa Kshinsky Brittany Gibson, Jessica Piper, and Steven Shepard present RFK Jr.s chances as a real threat to Trump. The article argues that recent polling suggests that RFK Jr. is "drawing evenly from both of the major party candidates" and that his ability to steal votes from both parties could allow him to upset the elec...

            Since the misprediction of the 2016 election, news media coverage of election polling has called into question the media's reliability as it relates to its presentation of polling data. Fast forward 8 years later, and the differing predictions of the 2024 election between media outlets have called into question how and which media outlets are reliable.      In the NBC news article "Poll: Election interest hits new low in tight Biden-Trump race" NBC's News national poll predicts Trump to win 4/5 times based on the 5 polls conducted, with the point differential being anywhere from 2-5 percentage points. The article states that it is Trump's perceived "competency and dealing with inflation" that has allowed him to edge out Biden in the polls ().      Despite the NBC news articles and polling demonstrating Trump as the dominant candidate in terms of chances to claim the presidency, the article "Biden Vs. Trump 2024...

     As alluded to in a previous post, President Biden and his age have become a very prominent topic in the media during this upcoming election cycle. Adding fuel to the already burning fire was another remark that President Biden made this week. During his campaign stop in Pennsylvania, Biden virtually stated that his late uncle happened to be eaten by cannibals following the shooting down of his plane during World War II. Considering this odd and false remark, media outlets have addressed these remarks in a diversity of ways.           In the article "Biden implied his uncle lost in WWII was eaten by cannibals. Papua New Guinea's leader pushes back." Mithil Aggarwal contents that Biden's remarks are "disparaging" and does so by focusing on the impact of what he stated. Aggarwal purposefully utilizes the testimony of Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister James Marape statement calling Biden's statements inappropriate and that his "country ...

                 Since his presidency, Donald Trump has faced extensive legal battles and the Media has particularly covered his legal troubles. Beginning on April 22 was one of Trump's most contentious legal battles yet, with the hearings for the former president's alleged violations of the gag order placed on him. The perceptions of such hearings vary widely, with differing media outlets painting the hearings and overall trial as an unjust act in order to artificially ruin the chances of the former president from winning the 2024 election, while other media outlets contend that the hearings and trial are Trump answering for his own criminal actions.            In the CNN article "Takeaways from Day 6 of the Donald Trump criminal hush money trial" authors Jeremy Herb, Lauren del Valle and Kara Scannell present the trial in a positive light while Trump is a negative one. The authors purposeful...