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
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
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.
-
Prince Harry's 'bombshell' BBC interview
Talking Point Royal claims he is not safe to visit the UK and fuels speculation over King Charles' health in 'extraordinary' BBC interview
-
Codeword: May 10, 2025
The Week's daily codeword puzzle
-
Sudoku medium: May 10, 2025
The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
Trump taps Fox News' Pirro for DC attorney post
speed read The president has named Fox News host Jeanine Pirro to be the top federal prosecutor for Washington, replacing acting US Attorney Ed Martin
-
Trump, UK's Starmer outline first post-tariff deal
speed read President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Kier Starmer struck a 'historic' agreement to eliminate some of the former's imposed tariffs
-
Fed leaves rates unchanged as Powell warns on tariffs
speed read The Federal Reserve says the risks of higher inflation and unemployment are increasing under Trump's tariffs
-
Denmark to grill US envoy on Greenland spying report
speed read The Trump administration ramped up spying on Greenland, says reporting by The Wall Street Journal
-
Supreme Court allows transgender troop ban
speed read The US Supreme Court will let the Trump administration begin executing its ban on transgender military service members
-
Hollywood confounded by Trump's film tariff idea
speed read President Trump proposed a '100% tariff' on movies 'produced in foreign lands'
-
Trump offers migrants $1,000 to 'self-deport'
speed read The Department of Homeland Security says undocumented immigrants can leave the US in a more 'dignified way'
-
Trump is not sure he must follow the Constitution
speed read When asked about due process for migrants in a TV interview, President Trump said he didn't know whether he had to uphold the Fifth Amendment