Dan Balz's Collision Summary

Collision 2012 Dan Balz’s Collision 2012 tracks the ebbs and flows of the 2012 presidential campaign, starting from the disastrous 2010 mid-terms for the Democratic Party, moving into the crazy ride that was the Republican primary, and finally ending with the tumultuous presidential battle. Through his tracking and research of the election, Balz finds that the 2012 election cycle was a stark departure from prior cycles, characterized by three major collisions which set the tone for the future of elections/campaigns and our country. One of these collisions was the clash between the America that elected Barack Obama in 2008 and the America that gave Democrats their biggest defeat since 1938 in 2010. The 2008 election led to Democrats gaining

Yes, it was still Republican vs Democrat, the timetable was still the same, and there was a huge emphasis on ground game, but so much was different. Balz sees the backdrop leading up to the election as having left a bitter taste in everyone’s mouth. Democrats and Republicans alike saw Washington as a swamp of bickering and gridlock, they saw an economy that wasn’t working for them, and they blamed each other. On top of this, Democrats were disappointed in Obama and Republicans were dissatisfied with Romney. Along with this came shifting demographics and new forces including super PACs, social media, technology, and the importance of polls and

There was a belief in the past that elections resolved big debates in the country and could be turning points of what the public thinks about the issues. But this did not transpire in 2012 and Balz sees the future of elections to be more of the same: he expects that they will be predicated on hate of the opponent divided along demographic and party lines, not the merits of the candidates and their policies; he predicts social media and technology as a whole to grow in importance and scope; and he believes debates will become more important while becoming less and less about the issues and more about