Hillary Clinton in Ash Ketchum's hat holding up a Pokeball

Pokémon GO to the Polls

Part of a series on Hillary Clinton. [View Related Entries]

Updated Aug 31, 2020 at 10:57AM EDT by andcallmeshirley.

Added Nov 07, 2018 at 04:26PM EST by Matt.

PROTIP: Press 'i' to view the image gallery, 'v' to view the video gallery, or 'r' to view a random entry.

About

Pokémon GO to the Polls refers to a series of comments made about a joke made by then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on stage during a 2016 campaign rally. Most have mocked Clinton's comments for awkwardly using the popularity of the video game Pokémon GO as a portmanteau about voting.

Origin

On July 14th, 2016, at a campaign event in northern Virginia, then-candidate Hillary Clinton encouraged the audience to vote by saying "I don't know who created Pokémon Go, but I want to figure out how to get them to have Pokémon Go to the polls" (video below).



Spread

Various news outlets covered the comments, including Business Insider,[1] Mic.,[2] CNN,[3] The Hill[4] and more.

That day, the campaign for her then-opponent Donald Trump posted a video mocking the joke. The post received more than 230,000 reactions, 180,000 shares and 12 million views in two years (shown below).



Many online mocked the joke, referring to it as cringey and using variations of the joke "Pokémon stop (example below, left).[5] Twitter[6] user @denimcrocs posted an image of them supposedly deleting their Pokémon GO application (shown below, center).

Others felt that people were exaggerating their opinions of the joke. Twitter[7] user @jimpjorps tweeted, "fuck all y'all, if Bernie [Sanders] said 'Pokemon go to the polls' y'all would be calling him slay grampa." The tweet received more than 60 retweets and 200 likes in two years (shown below, right).


"Pokemon go to the polls" Pokemon stop I need her to Breaking News Feed @pzf Hillary Clinton talking about Pokemon Go earllier today E: 012ORY CLINTON hillary: Pokemon go to the polls me: hat ATteright acebook Delete "Pokémon GO"? Deleting this app will also delete its data. Delete Cancel Layout Pottery oice Memos Twitter f--- all y'all, if Bernie said "Pokemon go to the polls" y'all would be calling him slay grampa

On July 19th, YouTuber KSI posted a reaction video to the joke. The post received more than 6 million views in two years (shown below).



On September 6th, Urban Dictionary [8] user DATBOI69( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) defined the expression in an entry. They wrote, "A term used by presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as a joke on the world wide successful video game Pokemon GO to get people to vote for her" (shown below).


TOP DEFINITION pokemon go to the polls A term used by presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as a joke on the world wide successful video game Pokemon GO to get people to vote for her. Hillary: YOU ALL NEED TO POKEMON GO TO THE POLLS hillaryclinton.com via giphy

Various Examples


Are you saying we should the polls?" the to O' NO iS On if you have mado a mistake. an votes "Pokémon Go to Voting in 2016: Pokemon go to the polls! Voting in 2018: Mamma Mia! Here we go to the polls again! can everyone please pokemon go to the polls on tuesday
My face when I forgot to Pokémon GO to the polls Tauros wants you to pokemon go to the poll:s and vote!! #vote #PokemonGO #PokemonGOtothepolls SE VOTE HERE BuMOTO D VOTE HERE 4 THINGS TO DO ON ELECTION DAY 1. Doublecheck your polling location on VoteSaveAmerica.com 2. If you are in line when polls close, stay in line. 3. If they won't let you vote, demand a provisional ballot. 4. Pokémon Go to the polls. ote Save America Be A Voter On Nov 6th ! #VoteSaveAmerica

Search Interest

External References

Recent Videos 5 total

Recent Images 17 total


+ Add a Comment

Comments (15)


Display Comments

Add a Comment


Greetings! You must login or signup first!