Election day is closer than ever and the campaigns on both sides are giving it their all-but not all in good ways.
The people living in the "swing states" are apparently receiving about a dozen robocalls a day. These are basically automated phone calls that try to convince people to vote for a certain candidate or just vote. The problem is that a good portion of these robocalls is made up of negative ads, such as the Ayers-Obama connection that Kevin talked about last post.
Robocalls are okay to have, but I’d suggest campaigns to use them wisely. The numerous and repetitive phone calls are probably quite irritating for those receiving them. They’re not even worth giving out if they are negative and false ads because by now, people have already decided what things they are and aren’t going to believe. Both the Obama and McCain campaigns have said that the economy is the most important thing that should be paid attention to now, so seriously, lets stop the mudslinging!
original article here.
9 comments:
These "robocalls" are just a part of the campaign process. Because election day is right around the corner both parties are even more intense about their promotion and attacks. Of course the calls are irritating and it would be great if politics didn't include attack adds, but it does. At least this phone calls remind people that the election is approaching and even if the public is annoyed, they will still be thinking of the election. Angry and annoyed voters are still voters.
A dozen calls a day is a bit excessive. I don't think that these Robocalls will help if they are negative ads,since attacks don't always benefit the attacker. I agree that the calls would probably just end up only irritating the people who are receiving them.
McCain and Palin just won't shut about Ayers. In an NBC interview this week with both candidates, McCain went back to the Ayers things after Brian Williams asked a DIFFERENT question. McCain: we don't care!!
Also, when asked to define what a terrorist was (really a stupid question if you remember the Terrorism unit from sophomore year), Palin essentially said that while abortion clinic bombers were wrong and should be prosecuted, they were not at the same level as someone like William Ayers. I disagree. Both are terrorists and whenever someone seeks to use terrorism, regardless of the motive, they are criminals. Sarah Palin is dangerously out of touch with reality.
I'm not sure about everyone else's parents, but my parents get so frusterated with phone calls like that. I'm not sure if I would be too keen on receiving so many telephone calls in one day. I'm wondering if there is any statistical evidence to see if this helps or hurts a campaign in the long run? Maybe I'll search for it.
I think if anything, receiving twelve phone calls a day would make voters more frustrated with the system and less likely to listen to what the candidates say. That might just be my opinion though as even the one or two robocall's from Aragon that i receive bother me.
What I find funny about this conversation is that I get many more robocalls from Aragon than I do from any campaign. We get about one or so a week from a political thing, but just today we've had three from Aragon and two from Bayside, my brother's school.
Yes it is very annoying. It's gotten to the point where I see "SMUHSD" on my caller ID and just hang up. I can see how voters would be turned away.
My household hasn't gotton any calls, but since my moms a registered republican, we've been getting letters everyother day from Sarah Palin asking for donattions.
Theres nothing as satisfying as checking the mail, and finding a letter from Sarah Palin.
O and I got this email from "Joe Biden" via Obamas website about the robocalls:
The McCain campaign is flooding swing voters with "robocalls" -- automated phone calls smearing Barack's character.
They don't hurt Barack or me, but these dirty tactics hurt America by distracting voters from the issues that matter.
But just one phone call from you is enough to counteract dozens of these dishonest "robocalls." You can help a supporter find their polling location or reassure a voter who needs to hear the truth about Barack.
Are real people calling that much better than robocalls?
So far my family has gotten a few of these Robocalls and the most frustrating thing is that they seem to love calling around dinner time.. but i guess that is the time when most people are home...
We've also gotten calls from real people, trying to get us to agree to Prop#??? or vote for etc.etc.etc... While some people may say it's better for real people to call because it shows sincerity (or whatever), I think I honestly prefer the robots. I find it much harder to ignore or hang up on real people who just don't want to go... but i guess that's what makes real people more effective.
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