This Bernie Sanders ad made people the happiest of any campaign spot in 2016


The Bernie Sanders campaign's "America" ad made viewers happiest of any advertisement of the 2016 presidential election, a Vanderbilt University study has found. Set to the titular Simon and Garfunkel song, "America," the ad showed footage from Sanders' rallies interspersed with clips of Americans from various walks of life. It does not address any policy issues.
The minute-long ad proved popular across party lines, with even 51 percent of Republican viewers saying the Sanders team should play the ad often. While other campaigns, including those of Hillary Clinton, John Kasich, and Donald Trump, did air ads that produced mostly positive feelings, none matched the 80 percent happiness rating "America" achieved. Watch the ad below. Bonnie Kristian
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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