Jocelyn Ramirez

Zack De Piero
Writing 2
December 4th, 2015
Do Political Websites Even Matter?
Political talk can be really confusing, complicated, and extensive for most people that
dont follow politics closely. At the end of the day, the most important aspect should be the
individual issues a candidate and voter care about. A presidential candidates website is a genre
that could be extremely influential in the manner a candidate presents themselves and their
issues. Genres are undoubtedly anywhere-from scientific research papers to tweets to
presidential campaign websites-we read and write. As a part of genres, conventions occur to help
determine the most common components of a specific genre. Genreslike Tweetscan come
with simple conventions or they can be complicated like a presidential candidate's issues on
campaign websites. In similar and varying methods, presidential candidatesBernie Sanders,
Ben Carson, Donald Trump, and Hillary Clintonand their campaign websites want to influence
the American public as much as possible to agree with their political opinion and gain their vote
to be the next leader of our country with persuasive texts, individual rhetoric, and emotion on
their website.
A presidential candidates website is an important feature in discovering information
about the candidate, specifically in their issues section. In this area, the candidate is specifically
stating his or her stand on a political issuecollege tuition, guns laws, health care, and so on
usually with extremely persuasive text. The conventions of the text in these areas, is mostly easy
to understand, concise, and sectioned with bullet points. Sanders issue on Getting Big Money

Out of Politics is, Our democracy is under fierce attack. Billionaire families are now able to
spend hundreds of millions of dollars to buy the candidates of their choice. These people own
most of the economy. Now they want to own our government as well. Sanders effectively
persuades his audience to be aware of and relate to the current problems the democracy is having
by using languageour democracy, billionaire families, our government. Unless Sanders
audience is billionaire families, which it is not, then his true audienceDemocratic voterswill
be able to relate to the candidates claims and feel a call to action for a change. In their own
strategies, the candidates urge the importance of each issue.
Similarly, these candidates also use rhetoric to give the reader a sense of urgency to
heighten the importance of the issue at hand. Laura Bolin Carroll from Backpacks vs. Briefcases:
Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis states, Rhetoric-the way we use language and images to
persuade-is what makes media work (57). Ben Carson stance on Obamacare is quite statistical,
We didnt need the monstrosity of the $1.2 trillion Affordable Care Act. Even after it is fully
implemented for 10 years, 23 million people still wont have any health insurance. Carson uses
a lot more data to shock the audience into understanding what is wrong with the current
government and how he will improve on the issue. Both Sanders and Carson, use rhetoric to
make their point of view more appealing to their voters and to ultimately win the presidency.
As for the different strategies candidates manipulate, the two Republican candidates
Trump and Carsonhave their own format and rhetoric for delivering information. Donald
Trump, for example, has three issues in his positions section and once clicking on those issues,
you read a long, eight plus paragraph passage that is broken up into numbered divisions under a
subject. Both of these candidates change the conventions in the genre to create distinctions
between each other, because even though they are both Republican, they have different views.

Kerry Dirk explains genres in Navigating Genres as, rules change as the genre changes, that no
rules apply to all genres, and that genres require more effort than simply following the
rules(26). By altering the conventions of the appearance on their issues site, Trump and Carson,
potentially create distinction between one another to gain more votes. Under Trumps
immigration reform, he numbers the parts of the passage at the beginning then goes on to be
more specific, 1. A nation without borders a wall across the southern border For many
years, Mexicos leaders have been taking advantage to export the crime and poverty in their
own country. Donald Trump has few positions stated on his website, but the ones he does state
are thorough and straightforward with no images and very little graphs. As a result, his followers
will know the issues he truly cares about quickly, without distraction, and be more likely to vote
for him if they appreciate straightforward attitudes.
On the other hand, Ben Carson has ten issues on his website that all include a core image
and a short summary before going into detail. Unlike Trump, Ben Carson only has a brief three
to four paragraph position on his issues, I am unabashedly and entirely pro-life. Human life
begins at conception and innocent life must be protected. Carsons stance and format includes
different font sizes to alert the viewer which sentences are most important and allows for a
shorter read to possibly demonstrate Trump and Carsons use of conventions are crucial in
appealing to their Republican audience but also to individualize their values from one another by
including different issues and strategies to solve those problems.
The Democratic candidates also cater their website to their audience and include a more
emotional aspect to gain voters. Bernie Sanders has a total of seventeen issues, all with detailed
sections, graphs, and an image of Sanders at the top of the issues. On college tuition Sanders
states, MAKE TUITION FREE Germany eliminated tuition because they believed that

charging students $1,300 per year was discouraging Germans from going to college. Sanders is
more specific on issues he feels more strongly on, enabling audiences to relate to topics they are
also more passionate about. An article called, So what? Who cares Saying Why It Matters
describes the importance of why differences matter, The best way to answer such questions
about the larger consequences of your claims is to appeal to something that your audience
already figures to care about. Bernie Sanders believes his audience already cares about certain
issues, therefore he wants to inform them of how he will improve those issues when winning the
election. By including an image of himself at the top of each issue, Sanders presents himself to
be extremely involved in every aspect of the issue and causes his audience to sympathize with
his passions.
Similarly, Hillary Clinton has many policies on her website and for some of them, she
includes emotional videos. Nearly every issue contains lengthy information separated into bullet
points and an image of Clinton involved in something related to the topic. For example, in the K12 Education issue, Clinton is shaking hands with a student at what could be a school. From a
direct quote Clinton states, We need a president who will fight for strong public schools in
every ZIP code and every community across the country. I want to be that president. I want to
fight for you and for educators, and for students and for families. In short, Clinton includes
direct quotes, individual videos, or short conclusions to make it easier for the viewer to receive
the content she cares about without too much work. By including videos and images, Clinton
allows voters to be swayed by their emotions and be much more like to vote for her because they
will remember she caused a reaction within them. All of these candidates, use particular formats
to appeal and cater to their specific audience.

Presidential candidates from different political parties use conventions within the issues
on their websites to persuade voters to agree with their political opinion. This specific genre of
presidential candidates websites is a small part of all the genres out there, but becoming familiar
with this genre and its conventions allows for readers to be conscious voters and maybe one day
write their own political issues. Similarly, for any future presidential candidates, using these
conventions will assist them in creating their own websites because the genre is already set from
the beginning of this technological advancement. Presidential candidates from different political
parties use conventions on the issues on their websites to persuade voters to agree with their
political opinion.