In The textbook “Presidents and the American Presidency,” Han says that the key to running for president is to appeal to the voters who are undecided and to convince the partisan voters to come out and support their candidacy (Han 110). Examining President Donald Trump’s performance from the first presidential debate of 2016, show how President Trump met some of these things but also did not meet them all. One of the things a candidate must do is appeal to the base of their party, in this case the Republican Party. Some ways that President Trump did this in this debate was by addressing the topics of: lowering taxes, restoring law and order, and pressing Secretary Clinton to release her emails. First on the topic of taxes, he stuck to the traditional republican platform (Republican). He stated that with his plan he would cut taxes on the wealthy and businesses which would lead to greater job growth (FULL). He also appealed to partisan voters by arguing that the country needs to handle crimes with law and order instead of blaming it on the race of the person (FULL). When President Trump was asked if he would release his tax returns, he said that he would go against the advice of his lawyers and …show more content…
First he failed to appeal to them by refusing to release his tax returns. He started by saying that he would release them after they were audited but finally said that he would if Secretary Clinton released her emails (FULL). This failed to appeal to the undecided voters because people wanted to know how much he was making and if he was fairly paying his taxes. Another policy issue that he did not appeal to this demographic on was his stance on immigration reform. He took a very firm stance on illegal immigration in saying that they were criminals (FULL). This alienated many voters due to the fact that many immigrants have not broken any laws since they have been in the