Download Special Elections in History

Campaigns and
Political Information
Political Campaign:
an organized effort which seeks to influence the
decision making process within a specific group. In
democracies, political campaigns often refer to
electoral campaigns
How to Get Elected
• Two steps to winning the Presidency
OR a seat in Congress
1) Get nominated
-Primary (or Primaries)
-Intra-party
2) Get elected to office
-General Election
-Inter-party
The Campaign Committee
• Includes: fund-raisers, lawyers, accountants,
press secretary, travel scheduler, advertising
specialist, direct-mail company, pollsters,
advisors, volunteers from each state
• Volunteers educate candidate about their
state
• Advisors write candidate “position papers”
about things they should know about
Strategy
• Tone
– Positive—build yourself up
– Negative—denunciate the opponent
• Theme— “Yes We Can;” “I’m With Her;”
“Ready for Hillary;” “Make America Great
Again”
• Timing—unknown candidates campaign early
• Target—who is most likely to change their
vote?
• Coalition Building
• Mobilize the Base
Candidate-centered Campaigns
• Campaigns circa 1900: Party-centered
• Nominations: Parties controlled who
was nominated.
• Political Organization: Parties
monopolized political organization
though a system of precinct and block
captains held together with the
rewards of patronage.
• Mass Media: And parties controlled
the flow of information to the voter
through daily and weekly newspapers
with clear party affiliation.
• Campaigns today: Candidate-centered
• Nominations: Party insiders have lost
their power to control who is nominated
– Primary voters and caucus goers now
determine a party’s nominee
• Political Organization: Parties’
monopoly of political organization has
been destroyed by the rise of countless
special interest groups and mass media.
• Mass Media: Party control of the media
has vanished under a blizzard of
competition.
– Voters get most of their information
from the electronic mass media in 6second sound bites on the network
news and in 30-second spot
commercials during campaigns.
Results of Candidate-centered
campaigns
Favors incumbents who have all the advantages of name recognition
and the perks of office.
Favors political outsiders who have high name recognition: Ronald
Reagan (actor), Arnold Schwarzenegger (body builder turned actor),
Jesse Ventura (professional wrestler), Al Franken (humorist); Donald
Trump (Real Estate Mogul and Reality TV Star).
Favors people who are handsome and glib, a candidate who is good
with a sound bite and looks good saying it (Barak Obama).
Favors people who can raise humongous sums of money. (Hillary
Clinton & Barak Obama). And it helps to be fabulously rich yourself
(Ross Perot, Steve Forbes, Mitt Romney, Donald Trump).
Campaign Issues
Position Issue
• Rival parties or candidates
reach out for the support
of the electorate by taking
different positions on a
single issue or policy.
Usually complete
opposites.
Valence Issue
• A party may be linked in
the public’s mind with a
universally approved
condition of good times or
the universally
disapproved condition of
bad times.
• Disaster or success in the
election may turn on each
contender’s ability to
weaken these perceptual
bonds or “valences”
Campaign Ads
• We have all seen them, and most of us want
to change the channel
• But…
Campaign Ads Communicate
Information
• Campaign Advertisement:
communications supporting or opposing
a candidate for nomination or election to
either a public office or an office of a
political party.
• Candidates use advertisements to influence
voters
• Voters use advertisements to help them
make decisions
Effects of Campaign Advertising
• Political ads affect how one feels about a
candidate, can cause a greater interest in the
election, and can change voters’ opinions
• Voters with less political knowledge are
more likely to be influenced by political
advertising
Negative Advertising (“Attack
Ads”)
• Political advertising can often be negative.
• Research has shown that most voters dislike
ads that attack another candidate and that
most topics in these ads are unfair.
• Most voters do not trust political ads
• BUT: It has been found that those who
watch or hear political ads remember more
about the negative ads than the positive ads
Effects of Negative Advertising
• A voter is most likely going to believe a
negative ad, even if it may be false, if he or
she dislikes the targeted candidate.
• These ads reinforce what the voter thinks
about his or her preferred candidate.