Abstract
The article analyses different aspects of the US presidential campaign that ended in November 2016, its results and the influence of the Internet technologies on them. The research bases on the fact that almost 90% of the US population have Internet access. Therefore, the Internet proves to be a powerful tool in addressing directly to each voter. The study shows that Trump managed to gain support not only of the Republican voters but also of a small percentage of Democrats among different groups of population. That was a crucial factor in his victory. The authors argue that the key role belongs to comprehensive strategies of both candidates in the infosphere. Data on Trump's and Clinton's activity on Facebook and Twitter proves that the Republican candidate was more successful in using these tools coupled with traditional approaches such as meetings with potential voters and appearances in various cities and states. The authors also cite the data on how both candidates financed their media strategies drawing attention to the fact that Clinton spent around 1.5 times more on media buy and Trump spent 5 times more on digital consulting and online advertisement. In the conclusion of the article there is an analysis of the American IT companies activity in financing the presidential campaign. The giants of IT sphere such as Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Apple gave their support to Clinton (on average - one fourth of the donations) rather than to Trump (less than 1%). However due to a number of reasons concerning scandals around Clinton, Trump's personality, white middle class discontent with the current economic situation and other factors, it was the Republican candidate who won the elections.
Keywords
USA, presidential election, presidential campaign, Internet technologies, social networks, electoral system
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