How Voters Can Recognize Genuine Candidates During NYS 2022 Election Campaigns

Since the inception of political campaigns in New York State, it has been observed that most politicians often find it easy sugar-coat and lure potential New York voters to be by their side in every election. This, of course, is common among Democratic Party candidates and Republican Party candidates, as they are known as the most established political parties in the New York State and other parts of the country.

In a diverse State like New York, it is obvious that politicians often use different tactics to canvass for people’s votes. These tactics are conditioned. This means that they are determined by trending situations and conditions of majority of the voters in the state and sometimes nationwide. This is why it is sometimes very difficult for voters to recognize recognize genuine and sincere candidates during election campaigns in a 24/7 busy state like New York.

This year, as usual, it has been observed that almost all the candidates in New York State, Democrats, Republican, Conservatives and “Independents”, have again devised post-covid means to lure and cajole candidates towards their individual and party sides. Among the common tools used this year are: Covid-19 pandemic, global recession and economic challenges, Ukraine-Russian war, homelessness and housing, racism and anti-Semitism, abortion and women’s rights, climate change and green project, youth empowerment and education.

In an attempt to hear the views of potential voters in the State, Toukour Inike, a Bronx resident, was asked what he observed about the sincerity of candidates during election campaigns this year, and here is what he said: “This year’s election campaigns are different. Candidates running for state and national political seats and their supporters came out in mass. Unlike the last electioneering campaigns which were mostly virtual or digital, this year’s election campaigns witness the return of borough to borough, district to district, and community to community physical campaigns. This makes it tougher for some dubious ones among them to escape eye-to-eye interactions with voters who felt they have been shortchanged and it was time to speak their mind to those seeking for re-election.”

“Smart voters among us find it easier this time to detect liars among these candidates as the came with the same promises they gave us in the last elections. Our increase in economic frustrations makes us become smarter than we used to be, and helps us keenly critically review and focus on the ways some of them presented their manifestos this time. We now consider their track records instead of relying on the directions given by the Establishment; we now query every campaign promise they make, instead of just listen and clapping; we now focus on the personality of the candidates, instead of focusing on their racial and religious background or the community they belong. Covid has really taught us a big lesson; our eyes are now open. They can no longer fool majority of us,” Inike added.

Toukour Inike’s response shows that it is easy to detect a genuine candidate when they meet with voters eye-to-eye and that difficult challenges faced by some New Yorkers after Covid-19 pandemic pushed voters to start looking for responsible, compassionate and genuine leaders that can help them bounce back and swiftly recover from their economic losses during the global pandemic.

Michelle Smith, another voter from Queens, said that she took her time this year to come up with yardsticks for voting candidates, especially those campaigning for re-election.

“We all know that most politicians are liars. Some of them shamelessly campaign using unrealistic or long term achievable manifestos. Sometimes they make promises beyond their political office jurisdiction. Some give unspecific promises so becomes very difficult for some of us (voters) to make them accountable for what they tell us during the election campaigns. Now I know that as they plan before coming out for election campaign, we (voters) should also learn to properly prepare to counter their deceptions and scrutinize them well to bring out the real ones among them.

Personally, I’ve stopped allowing myself to be corrupted by hearsays; now I do my research diligently about individual politicians and carefully listed what some of them have been using to trap me in their political cage. Now I am wiser because I am more politically conscious and informed than before. I can’t be fooled any longer. Enough is enough.”

Ms. Smith proves to us here that with proper civics education and activeness in socio-political activities in your community, you can confidently know who’s who among candidates throwing ‘sugared’ words to voters during election campaigns. This means that candidates who have not been active in community activities before electioneering campaign could be easily termed as deceitful candidates. Likewise, candidates seeking re-election who failed to deliver 50-70 per cent of their previous campaign promises often paraphrase their deceitful manifestos to represent during the election campaign. Finally, some interviews conducted recently shows that most of the candidates who are desperate to get a political post through elections for their personal gains often bank on their wealth, associates’ resources, and, of course, connections from the Establishment in order to get elected or re-elected, as the case may be.