Lesson 8: Campaigns and Elections

According to the Graber book, media coverage of campaigns has become more negative. What are the consequences of negative campaign coverage?

A consequence of negative campaign coverage is that it has contributed to an overall decline in citizens' trust in government and participation in politics. Negative political news content has been linked to decreases in several forms of political participation, generally negative attitudes toward government, more distrust in government, and negative evaluation of political institutions.

Candidates have become increasingly reliant on appearances on talk shows and other venues where they don't interact directly with journalists. Give some examples of this behavior. Why do they behave this way?

Examples include appearances of shows such as The Late Show with David Letterman, The View, and The Tonight Show. They like to appear on these shows because it allows them to avoid journalists. This gives them more control over the messages of their campaigns. Talk show hosts tend to be friendlier and ask fewer difficult questions.

Growth in spending

In 2000, total spending on campaigns was about $3.1 billion. In 2004, the total rose to more than $4.1 billion. Spending continued to rise in 2008, when the total equaled nearly $5.3 billion. 2012 set another record with nearly $6.3 billion spent

What did the Republican Party plan for 2016 in order to make debates a more positive experience for candidates and voters?

In 2016, the Republican Party planned to cut the number of debates nearly in half because that there was a notion that many of the debate were ultimately damaging to the party.

What is one of the major causes of the dramatic increase in campaign spending in recent elections, besides increased spending by the candidates themselves?

Media-related expenditures is one major causes of increase in spending; television has made it extremely expensive to run for nearly any political office.

In general, there are several political functions of the Internet for politicians and citizens. Briefly explain two of these

One function is that the internet provides access to news and political information that was previously less accessible and they create channels of communication between elected officials and citizens, interest groups and citizens, and citizens with citizens.

In its assessment of social media's role in the 2012 campaign, the Pew report offered several observations about social media and politics. Briefly explain three of the four main points discussed.

Social networks are a mainstream venue for political discussion, social networks are a space for activism, and social networks re a place where people go to "support the team" with other "fans.

What is the recent trend in campaign fund-raising and campaign spending. What factors are driving that trend?

Spending has gone up dramatically with each election. This is due to the cost of media centered campaigns, but it is also driven, in the post-Citizens United world, by the advertising of independent groups, which are spending hundreds of millions of dollars.

What made the campaign of 1840 different from previous campaigns? What long-lasting traditions did it establish?

The campaign of 1840 was the first in which an effort was made to advertise a candidate nationally. They mass-marketed Harrison like a product in a modern advertising campaign distributing buttons, cups, flags, log cabin - shaped bottles of whiskey and other mementos with Harrison's name on them

Briefly explain the "digital divide" that was discovered by Carlisle and Patton in their study of Facebook use in the 2008 campaign.

The digital divide is when that the reality of engagement of people in politics and civic life mirror the level of engagement on Facebook. There are some increase in participation by ethnic minorities on social media but only by ethnic minorities of high social status.

What are the advantages to candidates that cause them to frequently appear on talk shows and other entertainment-oriented shows?

The host tend to be less critical of candidates than reporters are. Although tough subjects may be broached, it is guaranteed to be done in a gentle way. In addition, such formats give candidates the opportunity to do something endearing, like play the piano or the saxophone or as Al Gore did on the The Late Show with David Letterman during the 2000 presidential campaign, use jokes to confront public perception about the

Why have the networks limited their coverage of the national party conventions? Is this a positive or negative development, and why?

The networks came to regard the conventions as newsworthy and as mere attempts by the parties to get free advertising time. It is a negative development because the convention set serves as a backdrop for network talking heads and interviews.

According to the Graber book, there are three major consequences of media-dominated politics for campaigns. In a sentence or two each, explain two of these consequences.

The power of journalists to influence the selection of candidates where the media has the role of kingmaker,. Another consequence is the requirement for candidates to "televise well,"where image has become more important than substance.

In the 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns, both major party candidates raised money and campaigned online but, in both elections, the Obama campaign was especially innovative. Briefly describe two ways in which the Obama campaign was innovative.

They designed subject lines for the emails attempting to get people to open them, the most effective strategy was to write personal appealing lines from a friend. The most successful subject line was "I will be outspent." Also, the Obama campaign used virtually every internet-based platform available for campaign communication.

Candidates have become increasingly reliant on the Internet in their campaigns. What are two main uses of the Internet by candidates?

They use the Internet for the distribution of campaign information. They also use the Internet for fund-raising.

Why do televised debates not serve voters very well?

Today's televised debates generally provide little direct confrontation between candidates, although some of them have been decisive in the outcome of campaigns. They are more like dual speeches, in which each candidate gets to pontificate about issues as they are brought by the moderator.

Why are party conventions and candidates' debates not very useful for citizens who want to make an informed choice on Election Day?

Truth tests are the news media's analyses of the accuracy of campaign commercials. They provide a positive service when they correct inaccuracies. But they can also have negative effects. On the one hand, they give free airplay to the ads they are examining, thus reinforcing negative or inaccurate messages. On the other hand, they may analyze ads out of context or in too narrow a context, thus providing an unfair critique. They may also focus only on what is said, paying little attention to the visuals, which can be the most important part of the ad.