Press Coverage of Kasich

Following the most recent GOP Debate Governor Kasich’s campaign has gone through quite the coverage in amongst the media. The same media that has given an incredibly popular Ohio Governor little attention all of a sudden has taken offense after he calls for a level of sincerity to the GOP Primary. In Milwaukee Governor Kasich said he had finally had enough of the ridiculous statements and policy positions of his fellow Republicans an did nothing to tow the party line. I’ll evaluate two perspectives that reflect the media’s coverage on Governor Kasich’s campaign in this past week and reflect on how he was impacted in real world terms from there.

Coverage from the Right

Breitbart News can be described as a lot of things, however there is little need to parse words in saying they likely aren’t left of anyone when comparing news organizations. On Friday November 13 they posted an article calling for the end of moderate, establishment GOP candidates in Governor Jeb Bush and Governor Kasich. The imagery when first reading the article is immediate and stark.

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Hurt rallied against the Governors’ stances on immigration claiming a level of credibility by stating the American public is frustrated when it comes to illegal immigration^[1]. However with no back up he goes onto say that the candidates should be deported just like their amnesty policy. Siding with Senator Ted Cruz by saying that the Governors’ position is not compassionate despite their claims is the most backing when it comes to the article.

Coverage from the Left

New York Magazine's Gabriel Sherman reaction to the debate was much different compared to Hurt's calling for the end of the campaign. While it had the air of a post-mortem - describing Kasich as looking tired, not being recognized in his best polling state outside of Ohio, and his parts of his campaign strategy resembling an "anachronism from a more hopeful moment in the GOP’s history"[2]. Sherman describes the potential that the Kasich campaign offers with rhetoric promoting bipartisan action over the party line, but points to a few key issues that simply make him appear to be just like the candidate his Chief Strategist John Weaver worked for in 2012 - Jon Huntsman. In relation to last Tuesday's Fox Business debate Sherman focuses on how the image of the campaign is more of the petulant child, than the presidential candidate he is - the one who has the best resume.

Lessons

In the end all of the political rhetoric on Kasich's campaign can be instructive of how it is being perceived and talked about - simply look to Jeb Bush as an example for how that can plummet a campaign. Zignal Labs however gives more of a evidence-based look to how the debate was perceived by voters.

Most instructive of their research was that the low-polling Kasich campaign may have done exactly what they wanted despite the media narrative voters were interested in who Kasich is. Search engine statistics highlight Kasich as having by far the biggest moments in the debate and winning out[3].

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Other research done by the data analytics firm compared the ever controversial Kasich and Trump in order to analyze who was most being discussed during the debate. Kasich ended up winning by a 10-point margin against the pop-culture star of the GOP Primary[3]. While this doesn't prescribe what is going on in the discussion about Kasich or Trump, for such a 'low-polling' candidate to be talked about is a strong move in the right direction. Gaining knowledge of the candidate amongst voters will go a long way to strengthening the campaign. 

[3]

1. Hurt, Charles. "It's Time to Deport Jeb Bush and John Kasich." Breitbart News, 13 Nov. 2015. http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/11/13/bnthe-nuclear-option-its-time-to-deport-jeb-bush-and-john-kasich/

2. Sherman, Gabriel. "And John Kasich Is the Angry One?" Daily Intelligencer. New York Magazine, 13 Nov. 2015. http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/11/john-kasich-is-the-angry-one.html#

3. Hughes, Gabrielle. "This Week in Realtime Media (#TWIRM): November 13, 2015." Zignal Labs, 13 Nov. 2015. http://zignallabs.com/this-week-in-realtime-media-twirm-november-13-2015/