Many voters know very little about a candidate, don’t pay attention to the ads on tv...many of which are negative against a major opponent. The result is that they look at the first and last name of the person and vote based on that basis.
In Chicago, and probably nation wide the Irish name has the edge, Kennedy, Reagan had a big edge, just by having the right name. Most voters thought Goldwater was a Jewish name and voted against that name. In Chicago many Italian and Polish and Jewish politicians changed their name to an Irish sounding name specifically for that reason. On the other hand in a district that is identifies one race or ethnicity the candidate with add in “quotes” the ethnic name to keep that identity. Then the same politicians drops the ethnicity when running statewide.
A good ground game is the best way to get around this. Different from a TV ad (or billboard) the ground game breaks through the stereotyping based on name. The voter is voting from the ground game worker as much as for the candidate.
I suspect you are right. Hassan likely lost because of his name.
So simple. Most voters are fed up with anyone who has a “foreign” name. Just give ‘em Smith and Jones.
Imho the standard republican media people who run campaigns for republican candidates ate uninsured. I don’t get why it is that the guy who ran the republican candidates election in LA was not hired by one or more republican ad agrncoes
Yep. Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke for example.