Dating is not considered a political interaction. It’s usually regarded as a social interaction. In most instances this is true. But, the popular ABC show, The Bachelorette, is an exception. If you look closely it’s actually set up like a political primary. And Luke P the hated villain on the current season is using a Trump-esque strategy to win. And it’s working.

In normal dating scenarios both parties have complete autonomy and liberty unbounded by geographical limitations. Each party has the option to seek another relationships while entertaining their current suitor. They also maintain the decision to accept or reject each other. The playing field is completely level.

The show is like a political primary

The Bachelorette scraps these norms and introduces a situation where 30 bachelors are contesting to be the single partner of the bachelorette. The bachelorette cuts the contestant pool down over several weekly rounds until a single suitor remains.

This is equivalent to a political primary where 30 political candidates are running for a single position but only one person is voting. It can be described an electoral monopsony. A monopsony is an economic term that describes a system where’s there’s a single buyer and multiple sellers. In The Bachelorette’s case instead of single buyer there’s a single voter and instead of multiple candidates there are multiple suitors.

Contestants try to fit the profile

In a normal electoral process candidates try and capture as much of the electorate as possible without representing conflicting views. The same can be said for The Bachelorette. With several candidates and the environment inherently being competitive each candidate is trying to represent the bachelorette’s idea of a husband as best as possible.

Even if their own actual views don’t align. (This happens in real politics. Just look at this article of Democratic primary candidates reluctantly raising their hands in support of free healthcare for illegal immigrants. An idea that garnered little support in the last democratic primary.) The natural progression of this strategy is that eventually everyone’s views will become indistinguishable from each other.

Time becomes everything

Once this happens, time becomes the most valuable resource. During the primary stage of a political election it’s common for several news organizations to track which candidates said the most words and had the most speaking time in a political debate. Because it’s understood that when people see you more, they are more drawn to you purely based on familiarity.

Luke P’s manipulation and denigration of his bachelorette’s counterparts is an interesting step towards winning. It’s allowed him to maximize his time with the single voter. Hannah B. has spent a significant portion of the season investigating Luke P’s behavior. Luke is constantly being discussed and referenced, even when he’s not in the room. On several occasions, Hannah has used precious moments with other contestants to only talk about Luke.

Trump did the same thing in 2016

Luke discovered an effective way to capture attention on the show. And consequently he’s continued to get a rose round after round, despite his obvious shortcomings (like being disliked by every other contestant). Trump used a similar strategy to win the presidential Republican primary.

Trump diverted attention away from other candidates by constantly spewing outlandish comments that garnered full time attention. Like talking about trade wars, muslim bans, or mocking the physically handicapped. Politico magazine provides a wonderful list of 155 crazy things Trump said during the 2016 election. We highly recommend scrolling through it. We promise you won’t be disappointed.

Like Trump, Luke P constantly causes drama and remains the center of attention. Whether it’s his fights with Garrett, Mike, and Luke S. or warping the truth in order to make other contestants look bad, it’s all in order to maintain his position at the front of the line. He was even first the contestant to say he was falling in love with Hannah B., to the shock of the audience and other contestants, after only knowing her for two days. The ploy immediately brought him instant attention from everyone on the show.

Other contestants on the show understood the “Luke P. Effect”. For example, Connor S. a contestant in the later rounds was voted off because Hannah felt like they didn’t spend enough time together. He stated in an interview with People magazine that his lack of time spent with Hannah was because Luke P. monopolized all the attention. It’s a deviously effective political strategy; it worked for Donald Trump. Let’s see if it continues working for Luke.