Bernie Sanders Rhetorical Analysis

1490 Words3 Pages

Bernie Sanders is running for President of the United States of America as a democratic candidate. His competition for the primary elections is Hillary Clinton, a well-known politician with plenty of experience under her belt. Bernie is running as a non-traditional candidate, which is a main factor of why his campaign is extremely successful and popular with the American people. A recent political ad released by Sander’s campaign team called “Real Change” emphasizes his family values and dedication to the working class, fighting for the votes of the average American. The ad implies Bernie is the right man for the job due to his long history of experience and commitment to the issues he believes in. This political ad illustrates how Bernie …show more content…

Appealing to an audience’s ethos consists of convincing an audience that someone has moral character and are credible enough to be knowledgeable on what they are speaking on. Bernie is able to play up his ethos through the use of multiple rhetorical strategies, including narrative structure and plain folks. Directly from the start of this political ad Bernie incorporates narrative structure to list all of his qualifications that would make him an effective leader for the United States. The ad informs the audience on how “he moved to Vermont; won the election and praise as one of America’s best mayors” in 1987, decided by U.S. News (Bernie Sanders). The ad tells a chronological story of the highlights in Bernie Sander’s career. This list of accomplishments impresses his audience while also demonstrating that Bernie has the political expertise to be a successful president while also fighting for the people. In the narrative structure of the ad, Bernie’s time spent fighting for racial and social justice is a major topic where emphasis is placed. Knowing Bernie’s audience is inclusive of racial and ethnic minorities, these examples of Bernie’s fighting against injustice will give him mass amounts of credibility with his audience. Another rhetorical strategy used to appeal to the audience’s ethos is plain folks. The ad specifically states that Bernie went to public school, this is for the sole purpose of relating Bernie Sanders to the average American, he could not afford expensive private schools, contrary to other candidates. They also show clips of Bernie talking to multiple working class citizens and mention how he is a husband, father, and grandfather. These clips prove that Bernie is a working class man with a family to take care of, the same situation millions of Americans are in. An audience is readily able

Open Document