--- title: What Comic-Con Tells Us About the Presidential Election description: The conventions in Cleveland, San Diego and Philadelphia reflect a dystopian America canonical: https://time.com/4423603/comic-con-political-conventions/ author: Norman Pearlstine article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-26T13:42:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:32:46.652Z article:section: Ideas og:title: What Comic-Con Tells Us About the Presidential Election og:description: Conventions in Cleveland, San Diego and Philadelphia reflect a dystopian America og:url: https://time.com/4423603/comic-con-political-conventions/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteda98bde0cc44a00/69889edcfb4eac032288e68a/rnc-comic-con-facebook.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1867 og:image:height: 1050 og:image:alt: Attendees at the RNC, left, and at Comic-Con, right. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What Comic-Con Tells Us About the Presidential Election twitter:description: Conventions in Cleveland, San Diego and Philadelphia reflect a dystopian America twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteda98bde0cc44a00/69889edcfb4eac032288e68a/rnc-comic-con-facebook.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What Comic-Con Tells Us About the Presidential Election > Sponsored content. 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A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=acdda5b5-fff6-4db2-bff0-93adbfc84127&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1)  by [Norman Pearlstine](https://time.com/author/norman-pearlstine/)  ## Norman Pearlstine Jul 26, 2016 1:42 PM UTC  Attendees at the RNC, left, and at Comic-Con, right. Attendees at the RNC, left, and at Comic-Con, right. Daniel Acker, Araya Diaz—Getty Images  by [Norman Pearlstine](https://time.com/author/norman-pearlstine/)  ## Norman Pearlstine Jul 26, 2016 1:42 PM UTC After three nights in [Cleveland](http://time.com/4420014/republican-convention-protests-police-secret-service/) with Donald Trump at the RNC, I awoke early Friday and flew to San Diego for what my wife dubbed a weekend “palate cleanser” at [Comic-Con Internationa](http://time.com/4421447/comic-con-best-moments/)l before soldiering on today to the DNC in Philadelphia. [Comic-Con is marvelous](http://time.com/4420538/wonder-woman-trailer-comic-con/) and important. More than 150,000 fans, many in costume, come to the San Diego convention center every summer to celebrate the growing number of movies and TV series based on their favorite comic book or other fictional characters. New shows such as ABC’s _Time After Time_ and video games such as _Street Fighter Nation_ compete for attention with established hits such as [_Game of Thrones_](http://time.com/4385303/game-of-thrones-season-7-questions/) and _Star Wars_. The big surprise—given the reality show that is the 2016 election—was that it was almost impossible to find a fan in costume who had anything to say about presidential politics. Ask a Poison Ivy or a Princess Leia to pick between Trump and Clinton and the most common answer was, “Who?” or “Who Cares?” Such indifference from a predominantly young, diverse crowd is especially troubling for the Clinton candidacy. Trump’s strategy, on full display in Cleveland, is to play to his base, content to expand it on the margins while putting most of effort into getting as high a percentage of his supporters to show up on election day. Clinton, in contrast, needs to get Hispanics, African Americans, young women and the Sanders supporters to pay attention and then go to the polls. Dystopia is a common theme to all three events. In Cleveland, it is imminent. In San Diego, it is entertainment. 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