US election campaigns have a ‘polarizing’ effect on society

In America’s midterm elections, candidates again opted for special campaigns. But the strategy behind this is completely different from that of the Netherlands. “They are more looking for the opponent’s loss than gain for themselves,” campaign strategist Mark Thiessen told Goedemorgen Nederland on NPO 1.

Thiessen points out that this is an important question, “because campaigns have a huge influence on how stories arise and play out in society.”

According to Thiessen, these campaigns are “very polarizing”. Especially because the candidates are pointing fingers at each other. “In the past, like here in the Netherlands, people voted for the parties they wanted to win. A party then says: if we win, we will do this or that. In America it has become so polarized, also because of these campaigns, that if you don’t vote for me, the opponent wins, then he takes everything from you and our country goes into the abyss.

Opposite effect

And Americans are investing billions of dollars in campaigns like this and it’s now resulting in “an extremely polarized landscape and a poisoned atmosphere.”

It can also be counterproductive, Thiessen says. Take the example of former President Donald Trump. “The more polarized his message, the more Democratic voters will feel inclined to vote. They don’t want him to win, so they go to the polls.”

Football match

Here again resides the feeling that Thiessen was already describing: preventing the profit of the other takes precedence over the profit of his own party.

The campaign strategist compares this train of thought to a football game. “Normally you want your team to win, you play by the rules and you just want the game to end. If you don’t want the opponent to win, you’re going to sabotage things. Throw fireworks, run on You see these tactics now in US elections.

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By: Vick ten Wolde