Studies Of Communication In The 2012 Presidential Campaign

Presidential campaigns are our national conversations – the widespread and complex communication of issues, images, social reality, and personas. Political communication specialists break down the 2012 presidential campaign and go beyond the quantitative facts, electoral counts, and poll results of the election, to make sense of the “political bits” of communication that comprise our voting choices. The contributors look at the early campaign period, the nomination process and conventions, the social and political contexts, the debates, the role of candidate spouses, candidate strategies, political strategies, and the use of the Internet and other technologies.

The eighth edition of Political Campaign Communication: Principles and Practices provides a clear understanding of the strategic decisions made and tactical communication practices used in contemporary political campaigns. The authors: incorporate examples from all levels—local, statewide, and national—to illustrate the communicative choices confronted in contemporary political campaigns, discuss all aspects of campaign communication, from buttons and yard-signs to the rapid expansion in use of social media, and draw on a wealth of communication theories to clearly explain contemporary principles and practices such as functions, stages, communicative styles, public speaking, debates, interpersonal communication, political advertising, and the use of new communication technologies. Updated to reflect practices in the 2012 presidential campaign as well as the local, state, and congressional campaigns of 2014, Political Campaign Communication continues to be a classroom favorite—an insightful, thoroughly researched, and reader-friendly text.

Communicator-in-Chief: How Barack Obama Used New Media Technology to Win the White House examines the fascinating and precedent-setting role new media technologies and the Internet played in the 2008 presidential campaign that allowed for the historic election of the nation's first African American president. It was the first presidential campaign in which the Internet, the electorate, and political campaign strategies for the White House successfully converged to propel a candidate to the highest elected office in the nation. The contributors to this volume masterfully demonstrate how the Internet is to President Barack Obama what television was to President John Kennedy, thus making Obama a truly twenty-first century communicator and politician. Furthermore, Communicator-in-Chief argues that Obama's 2008 campaign strategies established a model that all future campaigns must follow to achieve any measure of success. The Barack Obama campaign team astutely discovered how to communicate and motivate not only the general electorate but also the technology-addicted Millennial Generation - a generational voting block that will be a juggernaut in future elections.

The second edition of Presidential Campaign Communication is designed to help readers understand and appreciate how the people of the United States use human communication to select their presidents. It explores presidential politics as one of the things about which Americans talk, thereby building relationships, redefining communities, and shaping public identities and priorities. Fully revised and updated throughout, the book’s twelve chapters build on its original argument and examples to highlight four key themes: Presidential campaigns are communication Ð evolving constitutional requirements and the Digital Age create a rhetorical puzzle for aspiring presidents. Campaigning is a quest and each stage invites new strategies and metrics. The varied impact of modes of presidential campaign communication - Laws and rules, speeches, debates, advertising, news reports, social media and entertainment are all means of influencing public debate and electoral preferences. They provide differing ways to reshape political images and perceptions during the evolving campaign. Citizens, campaigners and reporters bring unique agendas to the campaign Ð this ‘trialogue’ of dynamic interactions constitutes communities and contests issues, images and resources. The changing dynamics of the US electorate - Americans have sorted themselves into increasingly like-minded communities which complicates the quest for consensus, resulting in a multiplicity of opinions rather than a strong majority voice. Written with verve and clarity, and richly illustrated with 45 case studies and detailed analysis of the 2012 campaign, the second edition of Presidential Campaign Communication is required reading for all students of politics and the media, and for anyone seeking to understand more fully the system of democracy in the United States, and the central role that communication plays therein.

This diverse and unique collection of essays examines a wide range of communication elements and themes in the context of the 2012 election. Topics include the early campaign and Romney’s nomination battle, candidate image, the rhetoric and campaigning of Michelle Obama and Ann Romney, issues of race, persuasive appeals to voters, the use of music and social media, and Obama’s second inaugural address. Studies of Communication in the 2012 Presidential Campaign aims not only to expand the contributions and understandings of the various roles of communication in the 2012 presidential election, but also to cultivate a more active, democratic citizenry.

Much has been made of the speed and constancy of modern politics. Whether watching cable news, retweeting political posts, or receiving news alerts on our phones, political communication now happens continuously and in real time. Traditional research methods often do not capture this dynamic environment. Early studies that guided the study of political communication took place at a time when transistors and FM radio, television, and widely distributed films technologically changed the way people gained information and developed knowledge of the world around them. Now, the environment has transformed again through digital innovations. This book provides one of the first systematic assessment of real-time methods used to study the new digital media environment. It features twelve chapters—authored by leading researchers in the field—using continuous or real time response methods to study political communication in various forms. Moreover, the authors explain how viewer attitudes can be measured over time, message effects can be pin-­pointed down to the second of impact, behaviors can be tracked and analyzed unobtrusively, and respondents can naturally respond on their smartphone, tablet, or even console gaming system. Leading practitioners in the field working for CNN, Microsoft, and Twitter show how the approach is being innovatively used in the field. Political Communication in Real Time is a welcome addition to the growing field of interest in "big data" and continuous response research. This volume will appeal to scholars and practitioners in political science and communication studies wishing to gain new insights into the strengths and limitations of this approach. Political communication is a continuous process, so theories, applications, and cognitive models of such communication require continuous measures and methods.

Changes in technology and media consumption are transforming the way people communicate about politics. Are they also changing the way politicians communicate to the public? Political Communication in Canada examines the way political parties, politicians, interest groups, the media, and citizens are using new tactics, tools, and channels to disseminate information, and also investigates the implications of these changes. Drawing on recent examples, contributors review such things as the branding of the New Democratic Party, how Stephen Harper’s image is managed, and politicians’ use of Twitter. They also discuss the evolving role of political journalism, including media coverage of politics and how Canadians use the Internet for political discussions. In an era when political communication – from political marketing to citizen journalism – is of vital importance to the workings of government, this timely volume provides insight into the future of Canadian democracy.