As Dr. Jordan mentioned in class, politicians frequently leverage populist methods to try and get votes. This can be seen most obviously at the Iowa State Fair. Being a resident of the Hawkeye State myself, I wanted to emphasize just how much this plays into the Iowa voters’ decisions. Now that the caucuses are over, it’s very interesting to look back on the results and compare them to some of the candidate’s performance at the most populist venue of them all: the Iowa State Fair.
Let’s take a minute to appreciate what the Iowa State Fair means to Iowans. The Iowa State Fair is the biggest, best fair in the world. Don’t attempt to debate it, because you’re wrong. We have (one of) the largest livestock show in the world, famous musicians coming to perform, literally everything you can imagine fried and served on a stick, and a life-size cow made of butter. Everyone goes to the fair. Everyone. The governor and his family stand in line with Joe your neighboring farmer to buy pork chops on a stick. As a result, reporters flock to report on how well the famous people fit in with us everyday folk. When politicians are looking to connect with the layman in Iowa, they go to the State Fair.
Trump made the biggest mistake by showing up in a helicopter. You simply don’t do that. I saw jokes and memes and articles and all sorts of mockery about the incident for a solid three weeks after the fair had ended. People saw it as the big businessman from New York City flaunting his big-city money.
He called Iowans “killjoys” for not letting him land in the Fair itself.
Clinton and Trump both made a mistake at the State Fair by not attending the Soapbox. The Soapbox is a venue where candidates stand on a raised platform and deliver a 20-minute speech about their values and campaign. It happens outside, unmoderated, in any weather. Marco Rubio stood and delivered his address in the rain and did better in Iowa than expected with a close 3rd place. Bernie Sanders stayed and talked with the Soapbox attendees after his speech, answering questions in a very informal setting. Sanders had the best performance at the State Fair, with several news stations commenting on how he played the “one of the people” act to great advantage.
The big point here is that people want to associate with their politicians. In Iowa, this is especially true. People remember what happens at the State Fair because it represents the biggest opportunity for politicians to connect with the common man. Those who are able to do so, do better, and those who ignore this aspect of voter decision making in Iowa tend to suffer as a result. The populist appeal is as important today as it was in Capra’s era nearly 100 years ago.
Fun fact: there is an informal contest every year among newspaper journalists to see who can capture the most awkward picture of a politician eating a corndog. As a result, none of the presidential candidates bought/ate corndogs at the 2015 Iowa State Fair.