Strategy and Background in Congressional Campaigns

1998 ◽  
Vol 92 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick J. Sellers
Keyword(s):  
Electoral Connection ◽  
Congressional Campaigns ◽  
Campaign Messages

Common conceptions of the electoral connection often make two assumptions about the behavior of candidates and voters. The first is that candidates focus their campaigns on their records. The second is that voters evaluate candidates on the basis of their campaign messages. This article explores how candidates' backgrounds influence these two components of representation. The main premise is simple: Campaign messages are more effective if they emphasize issues on which candidates have built a record that appears favorable to voters. Consequently, candidates tend to focus on this type of issue when choosing campaign themes. Candidates are less successful in winning favorable evaluations if they stray from their records and make unsubstantiated claims.

Advertising an Agenda? Examining the Consistency between Campaign Issue Emphasis and Presidential Issue Priorities, 1980-2001

2007 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher S. Randolph, Jr.
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Candidates ◽  
Campaign Messages ◽  
Direct Communications ◽  
Issue Emphasis

Presidential candidates often make issue appeals during their campaigns, but question exists as to whether the actions of presidents are consistent with their messages as candidates. Examining presidential documents and direct communications between candidates and voters allows an exploration of the degree to which presidential priorities reflect issues emphasized in campaigns. This analysis is followed by a discussion of the effects of electoral dynamics on the consistency between campaign messages and presidential agendas.

Taking Aim at Attack Advertising

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Fridkin ◽  
Patrick Kenney
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Empirical Validation ◽  
Negative Campaigning ◽  
Senate Elections ◽  
Campaign Messages ◽  
Negative Messages ◽  
The Impact

This book develops and tests the “tolerance and tactics theory of negativity.” The theory argues that citizens differ in their tolerance of negative campaigning. Also, candidates vary in the tactics used to attack their opponents, with negative messages varying in their relevance to voters and in the civility of their tone. The interplay between citizens’ tolerance of negativity and candidates’ negative messages helps clarify when negative campaigning will influence citizens’ evaluations of candidates and their likelihood of voting. A diverse set of data sources was collected from U.S. Senate elections (e.g., survey data, experiments, content analysis, focus groups) across several years to test the theory. The tolerance and tactics theory of negativity receives strong empirical validation. First, people differ systematically in their tolerance for negativity, and their tolerance changes over the course of the campaign. Second, people’s levels of tolerance consistently and powerfully influence how they assess negative messages. Third, the relevance and civility of negative messages consistently influence citizens’ assessments of candidates competing for office. That is, negative messages focusing on relevant topics and utilizing an uncivil tone produce significant changes in people’s impressions of the candidates. Furthermore, people’s tolerance of negativity influences their susceptibility to negative campaigning. Specifically, relevant and uncivil messages are most influential for people who are least tolerant of negative campaigning. The relevance and civility of campaign messages also alter people’s likelihood of voting, and the impact of negative messages on turnout is more consequential for people with less tolerance of negativity.

scholarly journals You Have Options: Implementing and evaluating a contraceptive choice social marketing campaign

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 239920262110034
Author(s):  
Beth Sundstrom ◽  
Andrea L DeMaria ◽  
Merissa Ferrara ◽  
Stephanie Meier ◽  
Kerri Vyge ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Marketing ◽  
Survey Design ◽  
Full Range ◽  
The United States ◽  
Student Health Services ◽  
Marketing Campaign ◽  
Social Marketing Campaign ◽  
Campaign Messages ◽  
Long Acting ◽  
Social Marketing Campaigns

Background: Up to two-thirds of pregnancies among young, unmarried women in the United States are unintended, despite increased access to highly effective contraceptive options. Aim: This study implemented and evaluated a social marketing campaign designed to increase access to a full range of contraceptive methods among women aged 18–24 years on a southeastern university campus. Methods: Researchers partnered with Choose Well and Student Health Services to design, implement, and evaluate You Have Options, a 10-week multi-media social marketing campaign. The campaign aimed to raise awareness, increase knowledge, and improve access to contraceptive options, including long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) methods among college women. A pretest-posttest web-based survey design measured campaign awareness and recognition, as well as attitudes, subjective norms, and behavior. Results: Participants demonstrated a significant increase in knowledge about intrauterine devices (IUDs) between pretest ( M = 2.66, SD = 1.30) and posttest ( M = 3.06; SD = 1.96); t(671) = −2.60, p < .01). Analysis revealed that frequent exposure to the campaign prompted participants to engage in discussions about LARC with friends ( p < .05). In addition, 20- to 24-year-olds who reported seeing the campaign messages were more likely to seek out information ( p < .01) and adopt a LARC method ( p = .001) than 18- or 19-year-olds who saw the campaign messages. Conclusion: Findings from the study offer practical recommendations for implementing social marketing campaigns aimed at increasing access to LARC and reducing unintended pregnancy.

Political and Institutional Checks on Corruption

2009 ◽  
Vol 42 (9) ◽  
pp. 1217-1244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus André Melo ◽  
Carlos Pereira ◽  
Carlos Mauricio Figueiredo
Keyword(s):  
Political Competition ◽  
New Democracies ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Electoral Connection ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Institutional Activism ◽  
Accountability Mechanism ◽  
Empirical Tests ◽  
Performance Determinants ◽  
Positive Direct

This article investigates the performance determinants of accountability institutions in new democracies. Current scholarship on accountability has identified a distinct mechanism through which the introduction of political competition may affect such institutions: the electoral connection or vertical accountability mechanism. This connection is not expected to be effective in new democracies, because political competition is found to be volatile and nonprogrammatic. Another strand of the literature focuses on the effect of power alternation. Government turnover is expected to generate incentives for the creation and strengthening of autonomous institutions. By exploring a unique data set on 33 state audit institutions, the authors bring together these distinct claims and provide systematic empirical tests for them. They find a negative effect of volatility on their institutional activism and a positive (direct and indirect) influence of power alternation on their levels of autonomy and sanctioning patterns.

The Effects of Interest Groups' Ideology on Their PAC and Lobbying Expenditures

2010 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy McKay
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Political Action Committees ◽  
Unanswered Question ◽  
Group Type ◽  
Congressional Campaigns ◽  
Extreme Groups

While the literature on political action committees' (PACs) contributions to congressional campaigns is substantial, one key variable has been missing: the ideology of the PAC. Such a measure is needed to evaluate a normatively important yet unanswered question: to what extent do PACs give to candidates with whom they agree ideologically, as opposed to candidates they may want to influence after the election? This study shows that many interest groups' preferences for an electoral strategy or an access strategy can be predicted by their left-right ideology and their level of ideological extremism. The analysis finds that more ideologically extreme groups and more liberal groups spend more money on PAC contributions relative to lobbying. Further, groups' underlying left-right ideology is also highly predictive of their allocation of PAC contributions between the two parties—even controlling for group type.

Private Member Bills and Electoral Connection in Wales

2018 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 279-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian D. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Electoral Connection

Which kind of political campaign messages do people perceive as election pledges?

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 121-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia C. Dupont ◽  
Evelyn Bytzek ◽  
Melanie C. Steffens ◽  
Frank M. Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Political Campaign ◽  
Campaign Messages
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