By Nassim Harriss, Year 10
Elections, the foundation of democracy, are used in numerous different situations of our world ranging from the United States elections to the elections of our STUCO. Although the two situations are extremely different, campaigns were run, elections were held, and candidates were elected. What makes a winning campaign? As was declared on November 5, Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the U.S and in October the new Year 12 STUCO was elected. Now, what differences in Trump’s campaign made him elected as opposed to Harris, and what made this STUCO get elected as opposed to the other runners?
One major reason for the success in Trump’s campaign is his careful use of information and arguments used that appeal to his target audience. For example, he used the issue surrounding immigration as a strong argument. He argued that since the election of Biden, the U.S has seen a major increase in immigration, causing a problem with illegal immigrants. This argument spoke to the people that felt great discontentment and wanted stricter rules regarding people entering the country. Being aware and using the information as an argument to win over the people who have the same views on specific issues is a very strong tactic that allowed for Trump to connect with a large proportion of the population.
The STUCO identified issues that the students weren’t happy with and what improvements they wanted. For example, the winning campaign of the current STUCO was aware of some criticisms that were made on the planning of the Bal de Neiges and instead proposed an improvement. They stated that they would try to rent the venue for the Bal des Neige at an earlier date in order to have more time to organize the event. It was also proposed that there would be some more festivities around this event, such as a surprise performance and different aspects of the night would be changed in order to make it even more special for the students. This idea greatly appealed to a great number of the students and therefore won over an important number of students.
Although the elections of the next president of the United States of America and the next STUCO for LGB are clearly on very different scales, it is important to understand the methods used in winning campaigns. The candidates find a way to appeal to the largest population, ultimately securing the votes needed to succeed. Making sure that the arguments and proposals made by the runner are in line with what the population wants plays an important role in the success of a candidate.
