Hillary Clinton 2016 latest news: Clinton gets more personal with voters in new campaign strategy
Baby pictures. Witty tweets. More selfies.
These were just some of the simple tactics that the camp of Hillary Clinton did during the last nine weeks before she officially launched her 2016 presidential campaign in New York City last Saturday.
According to Time, Clinton's aides think that the former US Secretary of State's funny messages on Instagram, selfies, attendance in neighbourhood tours as well as campaign films would enable her to reach out to more voters than before.
A senior campaign official explained that the wife of former US president Bill Clinton wants to make the campaign to be fun, "exciting, fun endeavour where you and your team put yourselves out there," Time said.
"She's not afraid to laugh at herself. She can call herself a 'pantsuit afficionado' and embrace that people are going to make fun of that. But that's who she is and she rocks that," Dorothy Vickery, Clinton's 23-year-old freelance video producer, said.
Jennifer Palmieri, director of Clinton's campaign communications, explained that this is part of their approach in reintroducing Clinton as a caring, tenacious, and witty human being.
This, Palmieri noted, explains why Clinton has been weaving her life story into everything she does on the campaign trail, from tales about her mother, or her upbringing, to witty tweets.
"Eveybody understands that Hillary Clinton is a fighter, that she doesn't quit. But we need to explain to people where that comes from her, what is it that motivates her," Palmieri said.
"(The campaign) will show the person that we know, who is very maternal, very warm and engaging," she added, noting that Clinton's wise use of social media and her highly publicised roundtable conversations with voters sets her apart from the other candidates—both in the Republican and Democratic parties.
Other allies pointed out that Clinton's new strategy is a huge departure from the "distant" approach that characterized the early months of her previous presidential campaign in 2008.
"We are just now launching the campaign in earnest, and the key question in this campaign as it relates to trust is, who can everyday Americans trust to go to bat for them?" Clinton's campaign manager Robby Mook said.
"I am absolutely confident when she lays out her case it will be very clear to people that she will be that champion to stand up for them every single day."
The change in Hillary's approach to presidential campaign came amid signs of decline in Hillary's popularity with the latest CNN poll revealing that 57 percent of Americans think she is not honest and trustworthy, which is way higher from the 49 percent recorded three months ago.
Meanwhile, USA Today cited a Washington Post/ABC News poll that put Clinton's favourability at 45 percent—her lowest since April 2008.