Does this study show why Hillary Clinton lost?

[Chris]

What do people vote for, personality, policy, both?

Does this study show why Hillary Clinton lost? (http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2017/03/study-show-hillary-clinton-lost/)


...Their [researchers at Wesleyan University, working with the firm of Kantar Media/CMAG] new study of the presidential race, focusing on the advertising campaigns of Clinton and Donald Trump, reveals that despite outspending the Republican nominee by a 2-to-1 margin, the campaign ads rolled out by the Clinton camp and the Democratic National Committee were largely devoid of policy points.

...Clinton broke all records by spending $1 billion on campaign advertising, double the money invested by her billionaire opponent, and as Vox reported, a whopping $72 million on TV commercials in the final weeks before Election Day.

But the analysis shows 90 percent of Clinton’s ads attacked Trump’s personality, and only 25 percent of those ads focused on the policy differences between the candidates.

No presidential candidate since 2000 had spent as much time going after a presidential candidate’s personality flaws as Clinton’s did.

...

[Crepitus]

What I find amusing is the number of people who didn't want her to win that can't get over the fact that she lost.

[Standing Wolf]

No presidential candidate since 2000 had spent as much time going after a presidential candidate’s personality flaws as Clinton’s did.

Frankly, when has a candidate had so much material to work with in that regard?

I'm very serious. When has there been a Presidential candidate who carried with him so much baggage in terms of both on-the-record statements made during the campaign that insulted and vilified entire populations, and self-damning recordings and interviews made over the years? Trump has spent the last forty years seemingly building up a reputation as a brash and arrogant loose cannon with zero filter between brain and mouth; in the past, others have had their campaigns for that high office torpedoed by the revelation of a single incident or public statement of the kind that Trump's history is literally overflowing with. Running ads that did nothing but put Trump's own words out there for voters to hear must have seemed like a slam dunk for the Clinton campaign folks.

So, yes, if your premise is that voters turned to Trump because of his stated policies and promises, despite his glaring flaws as a human being, I'd have to agree with you. I'm not convinced that Hillary would have gained many votes among working middle-class Americans by highlighting the Democratic Party's policy positions on immigration, gun control, or really much else; as I said before, going after Trump's less than charming personality and sleazebag pronouncements about women must have seemed like a no-brainer.