The question often arises if politicians should use entertainment to gain their support or strictly their political views as leverage. Entertainment is an effective way to gain the public’s support.
Using social media and other forms of entertainment can grab people’s attention and instantly hook the public. Placing views and ideas as a politician in an entertaining way makes people more interested than someone who only convey their ideas.
Creating a social media strategy has become an essential part of every candidate’s plan to get into the office. Using entertainment through social media is a quick way to be in touch with large numbers of people, constantly and at a low cost. As mentioned on twitter, “If you want to connect with younger generations that don’t watch TV news, it’s essential.”
Every politician who decides to use entertainment to gain support and more leverage against their opponents is successful.
With the 2016 presidential race heating up, each candidate is stepping up and executing entertaining social media strategies. These entertaining strategies will influence who becomes the next president of the United States. According to the Media Psychology Blog, “Not only was Obama the first African American to be elected president, but he was also the first presidential candidate to effectively use social media as a major campaign strategy.”
For example, Obama logged twice as many Facebook likes and 20 times as many re-tweets as Romney. Obama’s team knew the importance of social media as a tool and used it to create both influence and action.
Republican Donald Trump has further blurred the lines between entertainment and politics. According to US News, “He has become a larger than life figure, certainly larger than anyone else in the presidential field, as he dominates the news media day after day.” Donald Trump is a reality star as well as a successful presidential nominee. He uses comedy and entertainment on the stage and on social media to lure people into supporting his ideas.
The first main hit was the reality TV show, The Apprentice, which he hosted for 14 seasons. This show was a success and at its peak received more than 20 million views weekly. According to The National Business, Donald Trump received $3 million per episode. In entirety this results in a lot of exposure for Mr. Trump and his campaign.
No matter what way it is shown, entertainment sells and receives great support from the public. Obama and Trump are two of the many examples of how politicians are not only using their knowledge and ideas as leverage against their competitors.

The idea of politicians using social media in their political campaigns has changed tremendously in 21st century. Now in the present day, politicians such as Donald Trump use social media to benefit their poll rankings. However, it will not always benefit the politicians by getting votes, their presentation in front of the audience in press conferences is what will benefit them.
Donald Trump, one of the politicians running for president this year, uses social media for his benefit, but does it really benefit him? The answer is no. One misinterpretation about something you intended to say, people may find it very offensive, or insulting. For example, Donald Trump says on Twitter, “I have a lot of money, much more money than all of them put together, and all of their phony contributions put together, but you have to understand I want to be me.” This is one example explaining what goes on, on social media. Yes, Donald Trump is an extremely wealthy person, but when he states his point across, he goes too far making his statement with a negative connotation.
Twitter is famous for “tweeting” about what’s going on in a person’s life. A person can tweet whatever he/she wants, and whether it’s good, or bad, it can never be reported as inappropriate and it can stay on twitter for as long as a person would like. Anyone can have a conversation or argument on twitter and it is public for the whole world to see.
Pataki tweeted, “I reject @RealDonaldTrump comments & call on GOP candidates for President to join me in denouncing them @JebBush @marcorubio @RandPaul #FITN”. With this tweet against Trump, Pataki drew attention to specifically to the leading candidates and essentially forced them to take his side on the issue. Along with Pataki’s original tweet he also said, “We need a leader in the White House that all Americans can respect, not just some.”
Hours after Pataki’s tweet, Trump replied on twitter and said, “@GovernorPataki was a terrible governor of NY, one of the worst — would’ve been swamped if he ran again! @GovernorPataki couldn’t be elected dog catcher if he ran again—so he didn’t!” Trump always seems to like to start social media fights and never misses an opportunity to respond to any criticism that is being said about him.
Politicians use social media for their benefit, but it doesn’t always lead to the greatest outcome. There have been fights going on back and forth on twitter between the politicians. The politicians do this for the publicity, but why couldn’t they just say whatever they need to say at the press conferences and interviews?
Overall, they should be able to express their thoughts verbally, rather than on social media.