WASHINGTON — Every U.S. national election, a cottage industry of strategists, pollsters and organizers craft brand-new words and phrases to describe the mood of American voters and the politicking aimed at influencing them.
From the 2000 election’s “Nader traders” (ask a Generation X voter) to 2004’s “Swift Boating,” to the 2008 “Obama coalition,” these terms provide a sort of snapshot of the U.S., illuminating unique, often temporary phenomena related to the battle to lead the world’s most powerful democracy.
This year is no exception. Here are some terms you need to know: BANNON LINE: First coined during the 2020 election cycle, in response to a comment made by political strategist and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, the Bannon Line is being invoked heavily in 2024. It describes the path in which a Democratic candidate could defeat former President Donald Trump if a certain threshold of Republican voters did not support Trump.
“It’s clear to me that the Bannon Line has grown. It’s no longer 6-7%; it can be as much as 20-25% so far of people who voted in the Republican primaries,” a Democratic strategist said in an interview. CHEAP FAKES: Edited online video content, created using basic editing tools or simple face-swapping methods that appear to show something that did not happen.
Cheap fakes are easy to produce and can be generated using Photoshop, by re-contextualizing footage and speeding up or slowing down video. “They are cheap fakes vi.