Politician's Best Friends: Ethos and Logos

During the 2016 presidential debate there was a common theme between each of the candidates intros; they all established their ethos. It is imperative that politicians establish their ethos right off the bat. A politician’s first impression on the voters depends heavily on whether the politician is qualified for presidency or not. Governor Chafee was the first democrat to give his introduction. He started off by saying; “I'm the only one running for president that has been a mayor, a United States senator, and a governor.” He asserted himself as the most experienced. He then proceeded to go through his experiences as mayor, senator and governor and explain each of his accomplishments. From voting against Bush-Cheney tax cuts and the Iraq war to flaunting his pride of being scandal-free, Chafee has accomplished a lot. His accomplishments make him qualified to become president. Then Senator Webb had his turn to introduce himself. He established his ethos with the audience through his previous jobs of being an author, a journalist and a sole proprietor. He connects with the audience on the premise that he has not always been a politician. He then expressed his qualifications through his career with the military. Not only is he a Vietnam veteran but he also served as Assistant Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Navy in the Reagan administration. Just like Chafee, he proclaimed his qualifications for president through an ethos-based approach. Martin O’Malley, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton all had similar introductions. They all stated their achievements and followed up with a quick preview of their policies.

Senator Bernie Sanders loves his statistics. During many of the times Sanders spoke, he used a logos approach to either express a problem in America or back up his argument. For example, he first states “America has more people in jail than any other country on Earth.” He then connected this issue to a problem with employment within minority youths. In his intro he quoted a statistic about African-American and Hispanic youth unemployment. Fifty-two percent of African-American youths are unemployed and thirty-six percent of Hispanic youths are unemployed. Instead of building more jails, he suggested putting more money into education and jobs for kids. Later in the debate he stated, “Republicans win when there is a low voter turnout.” He backed this statement up by saying “Sixty-three percent of the American people didn't vote, eighty percent of young people didn't vote.” Sanders’ usage of statistics and factual evidence support his arguments and make them more believable and more effective. It is essential for politicians to have effective arguments. Using good rhetoric strategies and having a good argument allows for politicians to sway voters to vote for them.