A Look At Audiences From the 8th Democratic Debate

Audiences and in general, humans, look for the winner or leader in everything. A winner is an actor who allows the audience to decode their (encoded) messages from within their scripts in an effective and symbolically interactive way. The scripts performed by the actors incorporate specific devices to more effectively engage and transcend their messages within their audiences. Thus, scripts, and performers alike, must act towards the audience in a specific way to create the intended behavior the actor seeks. These interpretations are highly dependent on the ways an actor plays to their social, cultural, and biographical familiarity of symbolic understanding to the script being performed (Mast, 2012). This symbolic content should incorporate both an emotional and cognitive level of understanding in the audience. Capitalizing on these aspects is what allows politicians to maintain and hold power.

Politics through this cultural pragmatic lens can then be described as a persuasive collection of performances set by political actors with the intention to shape an audience's view, all in the context of a shared system of collective symbolic representation (Mast, 2012).

In this analysis of an audience, the reaction from this audience is in response to the front runners Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders' eighth democratic debate. Their audience will be examined and explained through the context of performance.

Joe Biden ignited feelings of passion, anger, and bluntness from the audience that night in Manchester, New Hampshire. Biden’s new found cries for urgent change were met by crowd applause and cheers. But at times, the audience seemed unengaged or confused by sentences and claims that seemed to trail off to nowhere. Biden’s visible stumbles were met with criticism from the audience that attacked his old age and inconsistent track record. Why is it that when an actor simply mumbles or stutters one of the first responses it to say “Wow! Sleepy Joe doesn’t know where he is or what he’s doing.” (Trump, 2020) ? Critical audiences look for any crack in an actor and work to pry it apart, Joe Biden is no exception. Above the critical audiences, it was clear that from this debate his grasp of several audiences, primarily those of different ethnicity, will work to elevate his campaign.
            Former Vice-President Biden worked to paint himself as a candidate for the entire spectrum of race in America. Biden’s momentum behind the black vote was crucial in this debate as he worked to show the audience he was separated from the field of seven behind him.  Biden’s actions on stage came at a pivotal time for his own campaign, as audiences looked on after a disappointing finish in the Iowa caucuses. Understanding his vulnerability, Biden emerged as someone who embodied urgency and spark. Biden elevated his campaign in this debate by using emotional calls to action that seemed to reach out and engage the audience.

While Biden used a newly found fiery charisma to engage the crowd, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-V) found momentum from the audience within his cries of elevating the middle working class. The foundation of his campaign, Sanders repetitively called to build momentum in his “sweeping” grass roots movement. However, in a debate that was seemingly set on attacking the actor's character rather than policy, Sanders took heat on his status as a democratic-socialist. But Bernie Sanders' audience of followers has proven to be fiercely loyal to the socialist from Vermont throughout the past four years. In examining Sanders' audience's reaction, the reaction can be broken down to two camps, those with and those against. Consistently after most Bernie Sanders appearances audiences will either cheer and see his vision and script as the future, or hiss and scowl and the thought of socialism in America. Audiences can either agree or disagree on the actors factual content, but audiences may have issues separating their thoughts on whether they “like” the candidate for who they are as a person aside from any views they may have. Senator Sanders’ emotionally charged followers are an extremely devout group not only to Sanders political views but also to himself as a person. Sanders' critical audience may all disagree on any of his political views, but may have a hard time distinguishing what they think of him as a person. For Sanders’ overcoming his polarized audiences will play a pivotal role moving forward.

Senator Sanders’ political team after this debate must strive to continue drawing in their strong hold of followers without forgetting to reach out and win over new audience members. The American political stage includes a giant middle that is extremely malleable and autonomous (Mast, 2012). After this debate Bernie Sanders has solidified two camps, he must see that there is a third camp and audience available to be incorporated.

Citations

Mast, Jason L. 2012. The Performative Presidency Crisis and Resurrection during the Clinton

Years. Cambridge, Ma: Cambridge University Press.

Trump, Donald (@realDonaldTrump) “Wow! Sleepy Joe doesn’t know where he is or what he’s doing.” 2 March 2020, Tweet.