Presidential Campaigns And American Self Images

This volume explores a central political paradox: why American scholars, journalists, and citizens periodically question the viability of their presidential electoral system and yet believe that presidential elections are our best hope for tomorrow. The book argues that the key to understanding this paradox lies in the concept of "self-image," exploring relationships between campaign activities and political culture. After presenting an introduction to the history of presidential campaigning and a theory of political image, the book arranges essays in three parts: images centered on candidates, mass media, and the public. A final essay assesses explanations of the contrasts between the 1988 and 1992elections and suggests tomorrow's research agenda.

This volume explores a central political paradox: why American scholars, journalists, and citizens periodically question the viability of their presidential electoral system and yet believe that presidential elections are our best hope for a better tomorrow. The book argues that the key to understanding this paradox lies in the concept of "self image," exploring relationships between campaign activities and political culture

Now in its sixth edition, Political Campaign Communication provides a realistic understanding of the strategic and tactical communication choices candidates and their staffs must make as they wage an election campaign. Trent and Friedenberg's classic text has been updated throughout to reflect recent election campaigns, including 2004 and 2006 as well as the early stages of 2008. A new chapter focuses on the use of the Internet. Political Campaign Communication continues to be a classroom favorite and is thoroughly researched, insightful, and is a reader-friendly text.

"Authenticity," the dominant cultural value of the baby boom generation, became central to presidential campaigns in the late 20th century. Beginning in 1976, Americans elected six presidents whose campaigns represented evolving standards of authenticity. Interacting with the media and their publics, these successful presidential candidates structured their campaigns around projecting "authentic" images and connecting with voters as "one of us." In the process, they rewrote the political playbook, redefined "presidentiality," and changed the terms of the national political discourse. This book is predicated on the assumption that it is worth knowing why.

Although many developments surrounding the Internet campaign are now considered to be standard fare, there were a number of new developments in 2016. Drawing on original research conducted by leading experts, The Internet and the 2016 Presidential Campaign attempts to cover these developments in a comprehensive fashion. How are campaigns making use of the Internet to organize and mobilize their ground game? To communicate their message? The book also examines how citizens made use of online sources to become informed, follow campaigns, and participate. Contributions also explore how the Internet affected developments in media reporting, both traditional and non-traditional, about the campaign. What other messages were available online, and what effects did these messages have had on citizen’s attitudes and vote choice? The book examines these questions in an attempt to summarize the 2016 online campaign.

These approximately 450 articles explore all topics relevant to American political campaigns, elections and electoral behaviour, including some cross-cultural comparisons to help place American trends in a global context.

The Millennium Election highlights some of the most important campaign communication from the 2000 elections, looking at candidates' political messages, the media's campaign coverage, the impact of the Internet, and the political socialization of young voters. The authors show that we still have much to learn about traditional candidate-voter interactions as well as new forms of political communication--and these forms must work together to engage a new generation of voters. Visit our website for sample chapters!

Over the past thirty-five years, the rapid development of communication technology, the decline of political parties, a growing culture of cynicism, and the rise of the Internet have all affected U.S. political campaigns. But while these forces seem powerful, little scientific evidence has been gathered of their impact. Communication in U.S. Elections presents work from some of the best young scholars in two disciplines--communication and political science--on how modern election campaigns are affected by such forces. The authors look at how voters acquire political information, how issues are "framed" for them by the mass media, how attitudes about social groups are created, and how political advertising uses popular culture to affect voting patterns. The result is a fresh and comprehensive overview of why modern political campaigns turn out as they do.