Going buggy for Trump

(Photo by Utente:TheCadExpert)

Republicans and the Amish often go together like a horse and carriage.  An Amish PAC (political action committee) has therefore been strategically placing Trump billboards in the key swing states of Pennsylvania and Ohio.

These states happen to have large Amish populations, and the PAC is hoping to reach them via old-school advertising.  Since the Amish “don’t use the internet or watch television,” Facebook and Twitter just don’t cut it.  Billboards and newspaper ads are much more effective. 

During the 2004 presidential campaign, George Bush “made 44 visits to Pennsylvania.”  A quarter of those visits occurred within key Amish counties.  No accident there.  The Bush campaign had well recognized that Amish people, who are “naturally conservative [and] explicitly Christian, could be an important demographic.”

Yet from an Amish perspective, Trump seems a far cry from Bush.  As Sociology Professor Donald Kraybill puts it: “Both divorce and bankruptcy are cause for excommunication” within Amish communities.

Resources

http://wwrn.org/articles/46221/ 

Copyright August 19, 2016 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved