President Donald Trump's heated town hall in Pennsylvania recently was abruptly interrupted by two people who passed out in the audience. In response, Trump suddenly and surprisingly shifted from a Q&A format to a question format. low key dance party.
“No more questions, let's just listen to the music,” Trump said.
This spontaneous decision may be unprecedented in the world Campaign historybut be careful strategic curation Playlist deployment at campaign events is not.
famous barack obama went up on stage To U2”City of dazzling lights” His rhythmic chant of “Yes, we can!” flowed seamlessly Stevie Wonder's “Signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours”
Bill Clinton is music of fleetwood mac, told people“Don't stop thinking about tomorrow.”
In the current campaign, Taylor Swift's endorsement of Kamala Harris inspired her to perform a feminist anthem.the man” At her gathering when she leaves the stage. Donald Trump, in perfect split-screen contrast, plays James Brown's “It's a world of men among men”
Really, what difference does music make at these gatherings? We intuitively know that the atmosphere would be completely different if no music was played at all. But does music have another purpose? Does it influence people's impressions of candidates?
Psychological research I conducted during the 2016 election showed that the presence or absence of music makes a huge difference in how people perceive political candidates.
in Unpublished 2016 researchI investigated whether campaign music influenced how over 300 participants felt about two then-presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Trump.
A control group was randomly shown two minutes of either Trump's or Clinton's convention speech without the entrance and exit music chosen for the event. The experimental group watched the same video with only entrance and exit music.
The Clinton campaign chosefight songBy Rachel Platten, the Trump campaign isnessun dolma', Puccini's aria sung by Luciano Pavarotti.
Each participant asked whether the candidate “understands the needs of people like you,” whether the candidate is honest, whether the candidate is perceived as a celebrity, and whether the candidate is on specific policy issues. I was asked several questions, including how reliable I was.
In nearly all cases, participants who listened to campaign music were more likely to feel that Clinton or Trump “understood the needs of people like you” compared to participants who did not hear music during their speeches. was high. Regardless of party affiliation, respondents who saw Clinton appear on “Fight Song” perceived her to be more trustworthy on environmental issues.
There were also some partisan variations. Democrats who watched President Trump's speech with the intro to “Nessun Dolma” were less likely to believe that the president understood their needs and more likely to think that the president was being dishonest. Ta. Democrats, who watched Ms. Clinton's speech with music, viewed her as more trustworthy on issues such as the Cuban embargo, debt relief for developing countries, and environmental issues.
Republicans who watched Trump's speeches with music were more likely to perceive Trump as a celebrity, but there was no positive effect on Trump's credibility on any policy issue. But the music undermined Clinton's credibility with them on the death penalty, the Cuban embargo, income inequality, same-sex marriage, and the Syrian crisis.
Independents who watched Trump's speech with music included found Clinton less reliable on the death penalty, income inequality, and marijuana legalization. Even Democratic viewers found her less reliable when it came to the Cuban embargo, the genocide in Darfur, and same-sex marriage.
Every campaign is different. Despite the fact that this is a presidential campaign and one of the candidates is the same as in 2016, we should not overly compare the 2016 campaign to the 2024 campaign.
At the very least, the study predicts that Trump and Harris' carefully chosen entrance and exit songs will likely influence audience emotions, an effect that likely goes beyond the event itself. Even people watching a video of an event are more likely to be affected if it is accompanied by music.
Music can make candidates more empathetic and can increase their credibility on a variety of issues. Conversely, music can also reduce someone's credibility.
It's unclear why respondents felt more negative about Clinton but less positive about her during President Trump's speech. But it shows how music can tap into a torrent of emotions, both positive and negative. On this issue, Democrats had negative feelings not only toward Clinton but also toward Trump.
Given that Trump and Clinton were presidents, one might have expected the music to have little or no effect. least popular candidate It boasts nearly 100% recognition in U.S. history. Voter attitudes are largely fixed. And there are very few voters who are undecided.
Similarly, given the lack of connection between song context and general political issues, we should not expect music to change people's attitudes about a candidate's perceived credibility on a particular issue. Sho.
However, the results of this experiment are consistent with previous findings about the power of music.
We know that the tone and style of music, and even the presence or absence of music, can influence people's emotions. documentaries and movies. music connect social groups and draw a symbolic line between themto separate one identity group from another. Its qualities allow music and musicians to: emotionally bind the audience And even more justify a political cause When music is played or performed live.
Music is also was used Used by some governments as a form of worship, entertainment, and propaganda to psychologically control the masses. Ban music formats what they found threatening.
Given what we know about the power of music, Trump's spontaneous decision to start a lockout probably wasn't a bad one. Perhaps the music connected the audience to him more than his verbal answers.
With both sides looking for votes in a competitive election, perhaps the right music could sway enough votes to bring about change.
Mark Harvey is an associate professor and director of the Graduate Business Program at Saint Mary's University. He is the author of Celebrity Influence: Politics, Persuasion, and Issue-Based Advocacy.
