History would seem to repeat itself. Vinyl LP sales are on the rise, civil rights have been brought to the main stage, and a presidential race that will change American politics is upon us. Is it the 1960s or 2016?

While the times may have changed, the tactics of politics sure haven’t. As it had in the Nixon vs. Kennedy election of 1960, media, in one shape or another, has been incredibly influential to the nomination process thus far and certainly will be to the general election ahead.

The first debate held between Vice President Richard Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy was held on September 26th, 1960. It was the first nationally televised presidential debate, with an audience of over 70 million Americans.

It has been said that this first debate between Nixon and Kennedy won Kennedy his spot in the White House. During the debate, J.F.K. charmed the audience while Nixon stumbled. Nixon cracked under the pressure of having those large CBS cameras up in his face and was not prepared to give quick answers to the tough questions. The country could easily see which candidate would be steadier under pressure.

In the same way, that J.F.K. used his strong television presence to contribute to his success in the 1960 presidential debates, Bernie Sanders has used social media to thrust himself out of the fringes of his party and onto the main stage of national politics and the 2016 presidential election.

Sanders has ruled the social media game in the election thus far. The Senator has used mediums such as Facebook and Twitter to bolster his popularity, especially among the young voter base. Without his social media platforms, people would most likely look at him as a 78-year-old, out of touch socialist. They would fail to see his big picture plans, his idealistic goals, and his progressive policies.

Sanders has succeeded due in part to his more informal style. His tweets look like they’re coming from a young social media user, such as myself. Sanders uses slang and makes his tweets look like they come from an average person. He uses his Twitter and Facebook posts to stress the fact that he is just an average guy, like everybody else. Throughout his campaign, Sanders has found success with these types of social media posts.

On the other hand, Senator Marco Rubio failed to use social media to appeal to the public. His tweets and posts were bland and nothing out of the ordinary for a politician. The lack of interest in these tweets showed in primary results, with Rubio even losing his home state, and then dropping out of the race. They say that social media is the young man’s game, but at 78 years old, Bernie Sanders has been dominating the online game.

The television came of age in the 1960’s, as did politics as we know it today, with televised debates having a huge impact on the results of presidential elections. In the same way, we have seen social media come of age and have a huge impact on recent elections, especially the 2016 race.

J.F.K. owned the camera during that first debate in 1960 and set the tone for the rest of the race. Bernie is owning social media and leaving his mark on future campaign strategies.