On November 6th citizens of the United States will be voting for their next president that will take office for the next four years, and with this date coming up fast almost days away, both political parties are informing voters of certain tactics that may be used to confuse and misinform them.
Now with three debates that have been conducted, it is assumed that most voters by now know the proposals that Barack Obama and Mitt Romney offer if they were to be elected as president.
According to the Nielsen Company who has been measuring the amount of viewers of presidential elections since 1974, on their most recent survey it concluded that for the debates this year 2012, less people watched them than in some previous years.
The first presidential debate this year had 67.2 million viewers, 2nd debate had 65.6 million viewers, and the 3rd and final debate only had 59.3 million viewers.
Comparing these figures to the ones from the past elections since the Nielsen Company has been keeping records; it shows that the most viewed election was between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan in 1980 with 80.6 million viewers, and interesting enough the 2nd most watched debate was actually the vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin in 2008.
Several types of media conducted surveys before and after the debates, but one of the most interesting ones, was the one conducted by the huffington post, which indicated that only 15% of voters opinion was affected by the presidential debates.
Aside from the public political campaigns that the both candidates have undertaken, they also put a lot of effort into campaigning for the support of different major companies and that of community organizations.
There have been complaints now in several counties of various states, which voters are being pressured towards who they will vote for and being misinformed.
Voters are claiming that they are receiving calls to submit their vote by phone so they will not have to go to the voting booth, which is not something that can be done, and it is very important to go in person or you can also send it by mail.
Some companies have also pressured their employees to vote for a certain candidate, and they do this by telling their employees that their job or the company might be in jeopardy if they dont vote.
In some low income communities or areas where there is a big presence of minorities, some ads are place on purpose there to intimidate and cause some doubt and fear in those voters, because the signs warn voters that without proper paper work it is a crime to vote.
According to Reuters news agency some of these tactics have been heavily implemented in states such as Virginia, Florida, Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin.
Brenda.Colon@sandiegored.com
Translation : Omar.Martinez@sandiegored.com
