B-Matter — Chris Caswell

DEM15

Democrats took to the polls on March 15 in five states, including North Carolina, to cast their votes for the Democratic presidential nominee.

Florida, Illinois, Missouri and Ohio also took to the polls Tuesday. Tuesday had the most primaries on a single day since “Super Tuesday” at the beginning of the month.

Hilary Clinton won 7 of 11 states over Bernie Sanders, particularly doing well with minorities. Sanders, on the other hand, has been carrying the youth vote. The feasibility of Sanders’ proposals remain a central issue in the race; Clinton has often asserted that they are simply not affordable or sustainable. Sanders, though, has often attacked Clinton for following President Obama too closely in her’s.

GOP15

Republicans took to the polls in North Carolina on Tuesday to select their presidential nominee. Other states, including Florida, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio and the Northern Mariana Islands also voted simultaneously.

Coming out of “Super Tuesday,” on March 1, where 11 states voted in the presidential primaries, one candidate stands out. Donald Trump won 7 of the 11 states, making his nomination likely.

Ted Cruz won 3 of those states, while Marco Rubio won 1 state. Cruz and Rubio have both focused their attacks on Trump in recent weeks as he maintains his momentum through “Super Tuesday.”

Both of them have criticized Trump for his “Trump University,” a business program started by Trump that is the subject of several lawsuits. Rubio has gone as far as calling Trump a con-man who took advantage of hard-working Americans.

VOTERS15

Democrats and Republicans in Winston-Salem took to the polls on Tuesday to vote inthe North Carolina Democratic and Republican primaries.

This was the first election since the new 2013 voter ID law took effect in North Carolina. This law forces voters to show a valid government ID in order to cast a ballot.

The NAACP filed a lawsuit against the state for the law, claiming that it discriminates against African-Americans, disproportionately limiting their voting rights.

B-Matter for Republican Race // Katie Dickens

New York businessman Donald Trump has emerged as a controversial figure and as front-runner for the Republican party nomination, with Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio trailing behind. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has emerged as the front-runner of the Democratic Party, surging ahead of democratic socialist Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont.
On Super Tuesday, Trump called himself a “unifier” after recording wins in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Virginia, Massachusetts, Vermont and Arkansas. Ted Cruz won his home state of Texas, as well as Oklahoma and Alaska. Marco Rubio won one state, coming out on top of the Minnesota caucus.
After Cruz won Texas, he begged remaining Republican candidates to drop out, and for voters to choose him or face a future with Trump.
Chris Christie announced his endorsement of Trump at a Texas news conference Friday, February 26th, and has since drawn immense criticism from his home state of New Jersey, where six newspapers have called for his resignation.
Mitt Romney spoke at the University of Utah’s Hinckley Institute of Politics, issuing a long-awaited, opinionated speech about front-runner Donald Trump.
“If we Republicans choose Donald Trump as our nominee, the prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished,” Romney said. “But wait, you say, wait wait wait? isn’t he a huge business success and doesn’t he know what he’s talking about? No he isn’t. And no he doesn’t.” He later added, “Here’s what I know. Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University.”
As of February 27th, 2016, there are 2,638,469 registered Democrats in North Carolina, and 1,981,448 registered Republicans.
March 1st polls had Clinton 8 points over Trump in the general election if both were to win their parties’ nominations.

B-Matter / Anna Conte

B Matter –Focus on SC Primary

As primaries, caucuses and polls continue, the fore front runners of the presidential election are beginning to show.

The primary in South Carolina resulted in Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton as the current leading respective republican and democratic candidates.

Republican B-Matter

The South Carolina republican primaries occurred on February 20^th. Trump received 32.5% of the South Carolina republican votes, according to New York Times. He was followed by Marcio Rubio, who received 22.5% of the South Carolina republican votes and Ted Cruz, who received 22.3% of the votes. Jeb Bush, John Kasich and Ben Carson obtained the remainder of the votes.

As for Super Tuesday, Trump won seven of the twelve states that participated in Super Tuesday for the 2016 presidential election. Trump won Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia, a total of 460 delegates, according to the New York Times.

Cruz followed by winning Alaska, Oklahoma and Texas, achieving 369 delegates.

Rubio came in third, winning Minnesota, obtaining 163 delegates.

Democratic B-Matter

One week following the South Carolina republican primaries, on February 27^th, the South Carolina democratic primaries occurred. Clinton received 73.5% of the democratic vote, while Bernie Sanders received 26% of the democratic votes, according to the New York Times.

According to a Post and Courier article, voter turnout rate was greater for the Republican Party than it was for the Democratic Party in the South Carolina primaries.

Clinton received more support within Super Tuesday as well, winning Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia, a total of 767 delegates, according to the New York Times.

Sanders followed in second place by winning the support of Colorado, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Vermont as well as 553 delegates.

Voter ID B-Matter

The North Carolina primaries are to be held Tuesday, March 15^th.

This presidential election year this the first presidential election that the North Carolina Voter Identification Law will be in affect. This law was implemented in 2013, according to the National Conference of State website.

This law requires voters to show a form of photo identification in order for them to cast their vote. This regulation is currently being contested in the courts due to the possibility of affecting voter turnout in minority groups or student populations.

Super Tuesday Articles Reflection

Clinton trounces Sanders to win South Carolina Democratic Primary

This article did an adequate job explaining how Hillary Clinton was able to take South Carolina over Bernie Sanders. The lede was very good and set up the rest of the article very well. I thought that the diction was fairly biased at certain points but it is understandable considering the margin of victory Clinton won by. The sources in the article were varied in age and political expertise, which I thought was very useful in terms of understanding the general political environment in South Carolina. The article also did a good job explaining why South Carolina was such a Clinton Stronghold, giving some description of her husband’s political history in the state.

2016 Primary Results and Calendar

This piece was, for the most part, a graphic showing the distribution of votes and states for both the Republican and Democratic Candidates. The top of the graphic showed only the 2016 Super Tuesday results while the lower portion of the piece showed the outcomes of past Super Tuesdays. I thought this graphic did a great job showing voter trends and history. It is a very valuable piece of information for journalists because by looking at history we are more able to review the Primary results from a more informed stand point. For example, the Democratic Primary results in Georgia are more interesting considering that Obama won in 2008. This rise in popularity for Hillary Clinton suggests something that could be worth more investigation into the matter.

SC Primary Coverage // Merritt Enright

Both articles approached the South Carolina primary results through different methods. While the Trump article highlighted his win and future potential and used secondhand quotes from other candidates to build context, the Clinton article revolved around voter data to analyze to previous Democratic success compared to the present day.

Thus, Trump’s article is the more news/summary piece of the two. The lede establishes 3 of the 5 W’s and foreshadows what the SC results will mean for Trump’s shot at GOP nominee. The following paragraphs are summary-based and primarily consist of post-result quotes from the candidates. The quotes are accompanied by supporting facts as to why Trump’s rivals are falling behind, bolstering his success. Most of these quotes, although well attributed, are quote long and lack sufficient analytical context.

Rather than rely on quotes from public speeches, Clinton’s article was sourced by political science professionals and research data to support the lede. Quotes by Winthrop University professor greatly aided the article’s credibility, aside from their subtle bias. The tangibles voter stats, however, could have been hyperlinked/attributed clearly to indicate the source.

SC Primary Articles

This past weekend both Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump won the South Carolina primary elections.

In the first CNN article “Hillary Clinton crushes Bernie Sanders in South Carolina: 5 takeaways” the author does a good job of starting out by briefly explaining what happened in South Carolina. Next, the article is divided up into five key points which the author believes to be the most important takeaways from the South Carolina primary. I thought that structure made it easy for the reader to follow along and to be able to pull what is important from the article. The article includes statistics about the minorities that supported Clinton. The article also talks about the importance of Clinton to win South Carolina by so much to shut down Bernie Sanders’ momentum from New Hampshire.

In the Huffington Post article “Trump just won South Carolina. These charts show how huge that is”. The article uses a combination of charts, graphics, and analysis to show what happened in the primary. The article gives statistics that breaks down the overall victory percentage for Donald, what types of people voted for others, and which districts voted for which candidates. I thought that the article was very easy to follow. It also was able to easily avoid any bias by simply giving the statists, and showing them in graphics.

Primary Coverage-Annabel Love

The first article, “Trump wins South Carolina Primary in Runaway” is about the victory of Donald Trump and background information regarding the South Carolina Primary. Schuyler Krpof makes it prominent that this is a “three man race”. Kropf focuses on the three candidates that have a chance at presidency: Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio. Memorable quotes from these three front-runners were included in the article. This article addresses the record voter turnout with “more than 725,000 voters.” Kropf also makes it obvious that Bush is not doing well even after visits from his “popular brother and mother.” The only two candidates that we did not hear much from were John Kasich and Ben Carson. Overall, I thought that it was a strong article with powerful quotes from significant people. However, I would have liked to seen less bias and emphasis on Trump and more of an inclusion of all the candidates and more opinions from voters.

The second article, “Black turnout boosts Clinton in a big way” by Robert Behre emphasizes Hilary Clinton’s victory and the role that African Americans have in helping her win. Personally, I thought that the article was bias towards Republicans in the sense that it talked to the republican turnout as “being driven by a theatrical screaming match, featuring childish and insulting behavior” and comparing it to a “circus.” I also think that it focused too much on Hillary Clinton and not enough on the other candidates. I would have liked to seen quotes from Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. However, I do think that the article did a good job in providing plenty of background information and comparing it to previous presidential primaries. Overall, I thought that Behre did a good job with laying out basic information and interesting facts but I would have liked to seen less bias and more emphasis on other candidates.

In conclusion, I enjoyed reading these two articles and learned a lot about the South Carolina Primary. I thought that they both provided strong background information and engaging quotes from candidates and voters. I also enjoyed the media that was included because I think that the powerful images helped convey what the articles had to say.

SC primary coverage analysis – Brandon Liu

Clinton Trounces Sanders to win South Carolina Democratic Primary – by Maya T. Prabhu and Schuyler Kropf

This article is very informative, and provides videos and images that capture Hillary’s success well. It also provides good background info and comparison to how she performed vs Obama in 2008 which is significant because her success was greatly attributed to the minorities. Many of the verbs may seem bias, but I think they are justifiable due to Hilary’s 73% vote. Although the article is focused on Hillary, it does not forget to cover data and information regarding Sander’s votes. Great use of quotes that capture the main thesis of Hillary’s campaign. The quotes used at the end also capture the voters and public’s enthusiasm regarding the primary.

The article’s could maybe add some visuals for the data to make them more clear.

Trump Wins South Carolina Primary in Runaway – Schuyler Kropf

This article excels on immediately addressing all of the other relevant candidates right after the lede. Includes numerous quotes from all of the leading candidates. Does a good job of covering the next steps, such as Cruz and Trump expected to compete over previous Bush supporters.

The article could use some more quotes from the voters. It uses data from an exit poll, but only interviews two people, a wife and husband, which are not diverse enough. The Democratic primary coverage included more interesting statistics regarding the composition of the voters for each candidate. I think the article jumped around from candidate to candidate a little bit too frequently making it less fluent.

SC Primary articles — Eisert

The Post and Courier article, “Clinton trounces Sanders to win South Carolina Democratic primary,” by Maya T. Prabhu and Schuyler Kropf, discusses Clinton’s win in South Carolina as compared to her and her husband’s history with voters in the south. The article mentions the exit poll released by The Associated Press as a source for information on Clinton’s appeal to black voters, most of which were women and voters over the age of 30. The article uses information from The Associated Press, like percentages on voters’ races, backgrounds and more and on their inclinations towards or against Clinton’s policies and ideals. The article also uses the AP information to compare voters’ feelings about Clinton and Sanders. The remainder of the article focuses on this comparison and provides quotes from voters in support of either side.

The other Post and Courier article, “Black turnout boosts Clinton in a big way,” by Robert Behre, discusses Clinton’s backing from the black community and its effect on the election as whole. Along with Sanders, Trump is also discussed in this article. This article, as opposed to the other Post and Courier article, focuses more on the specific demographic details of the voting. Percentages regarding the demographics are given and broken down, as well as margins comparing results in different counties. This article is more analytical of this primary than the first.

SC Primary Analysis–Karlee Spirit

This past weekend completed the South Carolina primary that left both Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton with another win under their belts.

In discussing the primary, the first article, “Trump wins SC Primary in a runaway”, was centered on Trump’s victory and his current lead with Rubio and Cruz coming in a close second and third place. The article brings up the fact that is has become a three-person race. While the candidates of that three-person race are described through current status, thoughts, and quotes within this article. The aftermath of the primary exposed some faulty thoughts from trailing candidates and exalting excitement from Trump upon winning. The article provides in depth information including facts about the history of South Carolina primaries, and the status of other trailing candidates including John Kashich, Ben Carson, and Jeb Bush. It provides further evidence of supporters and their momentum going into the next primary. Trump, Cruz, and Rubio all compiled for more than 750,000 voters.

The second article, “Black turnout boosts Clinton in a big way” focused on the other end of the spectrum and the Democratic primary in South Carolina. Emphasized around Hilary Clinton, the Democratic winner had a large number of votes from the party’s African-American base. The article also provides the reader with many numerical statistics including Bernie Sanders projected 14 of the 53 delegates and that over 12 percent of eligible South Carolina voters cast ballots (less than the GOP primary). This article had a great deal of background information on voter demographics and voter insights as opposed to quotes and opinions from the candidates following the primary. Clinton was not quoted but in fact spoken for and spoken about. This article was arranged to put emphasis on perspectives and viewpoints of the voters.

Both articles, however, covered standpoints on the respective Republican and Democratic South Carolina primaries that were “user friendly” and “voter friendly” for gaining information, facts, numerical statistics, and insights. The biggest difference between the two articles I believe, was the cover of each individual primary. The Republican primary article, concentrated on candidates reactions and feelings, and the Democratic primary article motivated by the voter demographics and voters visions.