In a fight between a Paul Bunyan-esque common man and a famous doctor, the doctor can emerge as the responsible candidate. and dr. Oz will know how to sell it, said Samantha Majic, a political scientist at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice who studies style and celebrity in politics.
“Celebrities in the modern sense of the word are someone who is well-known, widely produced, managed and in the media, but they are also commercialized, they use their celebrity to sell,” said Professor Majic. She added: “As campaigns get more expensive, you need to have celebrities to convert financial capital. You have to stand out.”
Among Democrats and many Pennsylvania independents, Mr. Fetterman is popular. A Franklin & Marshall College poll just before the primary — and before his stroke — found that 67 percent of Democratic voters favored him, well above the 46 percent who were warm to his primary opponent, Rep. Conor Lamb.
Berwood A. Yost, the director of the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin & Marshall, said his health concerns “could make Fetterman even more recognizable given the Democratic candidate’s 52-year-old.”
“You turn 50 as a working class person, and you have some scars to show, right?” he said. “It is a further contrast between the two candidates. I mean, the contrast couldn’t be greater.”
And a comeback from a health setback is not uncommon. Senator Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent whose progressive politics are similar to Mr. Fetterman’s, suffered a heart attack in late 2019 as the presidential primaries loomed, barely missing a beat.
But Mr. Fetterman will be off the campaign trail for a while yet.
“Doctors have told me to continue to rest, eat healthy, exercise and focus on my recovery, which is exactly what I’m doing,” he said in his statement. He added: “It’s frustrating – all the more so as this is my own fault – but be patient, I need a little more time. I’m not quite back to 100 percent yet, but I’m getting closer every day.”
