Even though Bernie Sanders has been elected in the state of Vermont for nearly 40 years, currently he faces an issue of the general public not knowing who he is or what he stands for. The audience he most wants to attract for the upcoming primaries and presidential election is a wide range of people which he refers to as normal middle class Americans. He has many superfans which range from millenials to older generations, but most are in their 20s and 30s. These are the people that are sharing his social media posts and posting things of their own, earning Bernie media coverage to individuals who may not otherwise see this material. He had an excellent interview with former rapper Killer Mike which all 6 parts to the interview were posted to youtube back on December 15th, 2015. This helps Bernie Sanders familiarity build in areas where people may not follow anything politically related by bringing Bernie in contact with a famous individual from their area that they look up to. Many analysts are saying Hilary Clinton has more familiarity with southern states, so I think this was an early attempt by Bernie to get to that crowd before caucuses and primaries. This interview was completed in a barber shop and posted to Killer Mike’s youtube page and subsequently shared all over social media, generating millions of views combined between the different sections of the interview.
Blane Cropp
oepediadotcom 