Presidential Popularity

Words: 646
Pages: 3
Subject: Uncategorized

It has been argued that Americans hold their fictional presidents (those represented in popular culture – movies, television shows, etc…) in higher regard than the actual men who occupy the White House. Indeed, Reuters conducted a poll during President Obama’s time in office that found fictional television presidents were more popular than he was: Read the story here.
In the run up to the 2016 presidential election, Face The Nation, attempted to detail the qualities and attributes, gathered from respected American political leaders, that an American president should possess. As you watch the piece (Time: 8:44, closed captions available from Amara), take note of the items that are mentioned and those that are not. Are these same items the focus of our fictional presidential creations?
Netflix created its first original programming with the launch of a show entitled House of Cards. The shows main character (Frank Underwood) manipulates every situation and person to achieve power and his political ends. It is a very unvarnished and unflattering look at American politics. While it is fictional, it attempted to frame the show by using current policy debates and proxies for real people. For example, Season #3 has a driven Russian premiere whose attitude and presence invokes thoughts of Putin and the Kremlin. If you are unfamiliar with the show, you can watch the following trailers for each of the first three seasons, but be warned that doing so probably gives away some of the plot and drama.
House of Cards – Season 1 – Official Trailer – Netflix [HD] – (Time: 2:29; closed caption available)
House of Cards – Season 2 Trailer #2 (Time: 2:22; closed caption available)
House of Cards – Season 3 Trailer (Time: 0:46; closed caption available)
In the end, it is worth considering the overall popularity of American presidents. More specifically, what is it that we, as Americans, are looking for in our president?
The Gallup Polling Organization has been tracking (weekly) presidential approval ratings since Truman. If you follow this link, you will be able to interactively look at the rise and fall of presidential approvals and compare those who have held that office. Notice that the general trend line for presidents is to see their approval ratings decline while they serve. Alternatively, you can also see this trend line by playing with the data at the University of California’s American Presidency Project website.
I’ve given you a couple of presidents from pop culture to consider as models under which the public evaluates their real president and I encourage you to consider the qualities that these characters possess that make them popular. Do we expect to have these same qualities in our current leader? Is this realistic? What advantages do fictional presidents have over the real ones?
As you create your blog entry, highlight a fictional American president (television, movies, books, etc…). Please note that you cannot select House of Cards or the West Wing as your examples!
Describe the personality and politics of the character you’ve selected.
Are they popular within the context of their own drama?
What is the public perception of them? In other words, is this fictional character popular with the audience who is watching the show?
Each blog entry is worth 30 points and will be evaluated using the POLS 105 Blog Rubric. This rubric is available in the right hand column of the Blog area, as well as in the course Grade Center.
Review this video Creating and Editing a Blog Entry if you need assistance with this feature.

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