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I can say with certainty that if you've been keeping up with the American elections, you've come across a plethora of political memes. Some of the most popular ones include Bernie or Hillary and Ted Cruz is the Zodiac Killer. And of course, Donald Trump is so much of a joke that he has his own knowyourmeme page.

What interests me most is the effects of these memes beyond laughter. While Trump and Cruz are spewing racist and Islamophobic rhetoric, the internet creates these jokes. What does it do to our perception of these political figures? There is a possibility of Trump and/or Cruz winning and though I can't give an estimate of how likely it is, that doesn't change the fact that the possibility still exists. Turning these people into walking jokes might serve as a coping mechanism, so people won't have to think about the possibility of an America in which Trump wins. But is it really helping if it's humanizing figures like him? If we don't take them seriously, is that taking away their power or giving them even more influence?

Trump’s entire campaign reminds me of a warped and perverted reading of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self-Reliance.”
After reading it again, these quotations stuck out to me:
• “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day.”
• "Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist."
• “Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.”
• “Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.”
Trump’s fluidity has been recognized numerous times by the media. In regards to what he wants to do with the Islamic State, for example, he has changed his mind plenty of times. He is quoted to have said that he wants to send ground troops in because that is the only way to defeat them, then revised his statement to say that there were other ways, then gone back and said that ground troops is the only way. He is a walking contradiction, but he “trusts” himself implicitly to do what is right. He does not care if he is misunderstood and does not care for adhering to the typical, Republican mold. He is a version of Emerson’s self-reliant man. He genuinely believes what he says and does not care about offending anyone or being misunderstood. He believes that he is the best for the American people, and many American people believe him in return. Which is absolutely terrifying.
Connecting this back to memes, I have noticed that a lot of Trump-related memes seem to be in response to him changing his mind. These memes attempt to humourize his constantly edited statements, which, like the previous posters have said, only draws more attention to him. It baffles me that these memes are considered funny. It is actually terrifying how much support he is getting—especially from some younger voters who just think he is funny. His abrasive personality, I have noticed, also draws people to him. People praise him for being unafraid to say what he is really thinking, which some people claim is great because it means that he would be a transparent President. He does not care if he conforms to proper decorum and does not care if he is misunderstood—he says precisely what he wants. His thoughtlessness being praised is something that completely perplexes me. He is a racist, bigoted idiot who is being endorsed by a wide and diverse range of people for things that are actually scary for the future of America.

Making memes or jokes out of presidents and presidential candidates is not particularly a new concept to the age of the internet. If you can recall, this sort of thing also happened around the times when Sarah Palin was a pitbull with lipstick and Mitt Romney had binders full of women. Nowadays, all people do is make light of the presidential campaigns because it is so absurdly important; for America and the rest of the world. President Obama himself has come to be one of the biggest memes around and has even been known to play along several times.

However, I also have to agree that this sort of lighthearted activity does not bode well for certain communities, especially Muslims. There seems to be a universally understood threat about Islam to American life. In Ted Cruz's recent win of the Wisconsin primary, he made a speech stating that everyone will be granted the right to their religious freedom but goes on to make his only mention of Muslims the radical Islamists of ISIS. (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/ted-cruzs-victory-speech-wisconsin-38179409)

To answer the original question, I would not say that this surplus of memes humanizes the candidates but actually does the opposite. We see them as comedic figures and are less likely to take them as real people who are seriously competing against each other to run a country. Regardless, I will say that the memes are definitely giving presidential candidates more influence over audiences rather than taking their power away. This is because most Americans are partisan, not swing voters, and you know as they say, there is no such thing as bad publicity.
For example, the material spreading across the internet about Donald Trump who is known for his bigoted racism does not negatively affect the people voting for him- in fact, it boosts support because this is the kind of rhetoric that this type of crowd wants to hear. People who are aligned with Trump's views are not likely to change their vote by seeing memes that echo his speech.