Dr. André Haller is a professor for marketing, communication management and digital marketing at the University of Applied Sciences Kufstein Tirol.
Image: Thorben Jureczko / FH Kufstein Tirol
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Exciting times for a university professor for marketing, communication management and digital marketing. Because what is happening in the United States and which the whole world is following, is his body and stomach issue. Dr. André Haller from Sulzbach-Rosenberg observes every move made by the campaigners in the USA, after all, the exchange of blows is also a tug of war between highly professional communication experts. Haller’s analysis is sobering for anyone who thinks the election is over.
ONETZ: Mr. Haller, hand on heart: this time it is clear how the election will turn out?
André Haller: I was asked the same question in 2016 and I will stick with it in 2020: Everything is open. Although Biden is ahead in the national polls and also in decisive battleground states, polls are only a sentiment. In fact, the race is probably closer than many Germans believe.
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ONETZ: What else would have to happen for Biden to lose the election?
André Haller: There’s even a term for it: an October Surprise. Trump mobilizes regular voters very strongly and scandals can still occur. The Trump campaign is currently playing the story of Biden and his son very highly. He accuses both of corruption. It was similar in 2016 when Hillary Clinton had to fight the email affair at the end of the election campaign.
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ONETZ: This ominous laptop that puts Biden’s son’s business in a bad light, is that an “October Surprise”?
André Haller: Trump’s accusation that Biden is corrupt and that he is involved in diffuse business abroad with his son is a clear attempt to set up an “October Surprise”. The Trump campaign alleges that a laptop owned by Biden’s son has emerged containing evidence of the allegation. The computer’s contents have been leaked to numerous US media outlets, but this attempt has not yet really caught on. Should the allegations come to a head, however, this can be useful to the president, as in 2016.
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ONETZ: Trump acted a bit more civilized in the last TV duel – also thanks to the muted microphone. Will that help him in the last few meters?
André Haller: Trump can be accused of a lot, but he did act presidential in the debate. Basically, both opponents were more objective, although Trump – also for strategic reasons – acted more aggressively. He must maintain the mixture of attack and objectivity, as there are very many moderate conservatives in this election that he can lose. At the same time, he has to mobilize regular voters, and in his case that is best done with an unadulterated and direct manner. I can well imagine that it will be a narrow election, and a lot can happen in the last days of a US election campaign.
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ONETZ: Trump likes to tweet. What do you think is he getting professional advice or is he doing it on the gut?
André Haller: As well … as. Social media channels are always looked after by professional politicians. The question is, how big is the influence of digital consultants on Trump’s Twitter activity? Some of the tweets are undoubtedly direct from him, as you have seen for years. Strategically speaking, the fact that Trump often has to act autonomously here does not necessarily mean a disadvantage: his tweets often come across as very direct and therefore all too human.
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ONETZ: Say Biden becomes president. Is the US troop withdrawal from the Upper Palatinate off the table?
André Haller: I can only give a personal assessment here and that is that the withdrawal will probably not only be about the dispute over Germany’s underwhelming military spending in NATO, but that the global strategy of the USA is likely to be oriented further east. In my opinion, Biden’s victory is no guarantee of a change of course.
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This is how André Haller analyzed the 2016 US election campaign
André Haller on disinformation on Facebook and Co
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Amberg
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This is how the last television duel between the opponents went
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Germany & world
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Info:
Essay on the 2020 US election
André Haller has published an analysis of the 2020 election campaign in the United States under the title “Election Campaigns in Times of Crisis – The US Election 2020” in the journal “Political Studies” (page 62, issue 493, volume 2020). The publication is issued by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
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