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Gender and Candidate Communication: VideoStyle, WebStyle, NewStyle
Abstract
This book will analyze three aspects of gender and political campaigns: how female and male candidates present themselves to voters through their mass media messages (television spot ads and Web sites), how the media present these candidates through their news coverage, and how voters respond to the candidates' mass media strategies. The significance of this work stems from our comprehensive examination of the messages as we identify female and male communication styles used in mass media settings, coupled with our research on the news coverage of candidates in mixed-gender races and our study of how voters respond to the strategic messages designed by the candidates. Female and male candidates use similar self-presentation strategies as well as strategies that differ; however, voter perceptions dictate the ultimate success and appropriateness of those candidate images.
... Weibliche Politiker werden in einem Land, in dem Frauen in den höchsten politischen Ämtern etabliert sind, möglicherweise zunehmend als "leaders" und weniger als "ladies" wahrgenommen und in Folge dessen nicht mehr für agentische Verhaltensweisen abgestraft (Brooks, 2013, S. 29). Darüber hinaus ist aber auch möglich, dass sich durch die Präsenz von Frauen in der Politik und deren femininen Kommunikationsstil (Bystrom & Kaid, 2002) (König et al., 2011, S. 618), sondern könnte auch mit der Privatisierungsthese, die einen Teil der allgemeinen Personalisierungsthese darstellt, erklärt werden (Gabriel & Neller, 2005, S. 239;van Aelst, Sheafer, & Stanyer, 2012, S. 206;König et al., 2011, S. 618 (Bystrom, Banwart, Kaid, & Robertson, 2004;Bystrom & Miller, 1999;Nagel, 2012 (Lessinger, Holtz-Bacha, & Cornel, 2015), in Werbespots (Holtz-Bacha, 2010) oder in TV-Duellen (Nagel, 2012;Nagel, Maurer, & Reinemann, 2012). Erklärungsfaktoren werden hier kaum oder gar nicht diskutiert. ...
... Im folgenden Gliederungspunkt werden mit Verweis auf Lücken im bisherigen (Brooks 2011(Brooks , 2013Damen, van Knippenberg & van Knippenberg, 2008;Gabriel & Masch, 2017;Hitchon et al., 1997;Masters & Sullivan, 1993;McHugo et al., 1985;Sullivan & Masters, 1988). Neben der Valenz (positiv-negativ) und dem Erregungsgrad (hoch-niedrig) lassen sich Emotionen auf Basis eines oftmals vernachlässigten dreidimensionalen Emotionsmodells (Bakker, van der Voordt, Vink, & de Boon, 2014;Mehrabian, 1995;Mehrabian & Russel, 1974;Russel & Mehrabian, 1977) (Ciabattari, 2001;Fulcher, Sutfin, & Patterson, 2008;Huddy, 1994 (Bystrom et al., 2004;Bystrom & Miller, 1999;Nagel, 2012 (Plöhn, 2006, S. 122;Steffani, 1998, S. 456 (Bachorowski & Braaten, 1994;Gross & John, 1995;Nai & Maier, 2018; J.C. ...
... Einige Inhaltsanalysen untersuchen Kommunikationsverhalten weiblicher und männlicher Politiker in Wahlwerbespots (Bystrom et al., 2004;Bystrom & Miller, 1999 (Bucy & Grabe, 2008;Diehlmann, 2003, S. 135;Masters et al., 1987 (Kepplinger, 2011, S. 47-48;Klein & Maccoby, 1954;White, 1950 Anmerkung: kursiv = zentrale Fragestellung des Artikels. ...
... (See Part V of the 2008 survey.) However, only eight were deemed specific to female and male leadership traits: honest, believable, sincere, friendly, qualified, successful, strong, and active (Bystrom et al., 2004). These eight items are equally representative of feminine leadership traits-honest, believable, sincere, and friendly-and masculine leadership traits-qualified, successful, strong, and active (Bystrom, Banwart, Kaid, & Robertson, 2004). ...
... However, only eight were deemed specific to female and male leadership traits: honest, believable, sincere, friendly, qualified, successful, strong, and active (Bystrom et al., 2004). These eight items are equally representative of feminine leadership traits-honest, believable, sincere, and friendly-and masculine leadership traits-qualified, successful, strong, and active (Bystrom, Banwart, Kaid, & Robertson, 2004). A 7 point scale, indicated by the number of "spaces" on the semantic differential scale on the survey instrument, was used. ...
... 3 It should be noted that voting is not the only political engagement activity to which cynicism has been linked. Political cynicism in general has been linked to political efficacy (Verba et al., 1997), feeling less able to understand politics (Bennett, 1997;Bystrom et al., 2004), and perceived levels of knowledge (Banwart, 2007a Which of the following best represents your political party affiliation? Check ONLY ONE of the following: ...
... ma ntic differential sca les to study politica l candidate image eva luations (see Kaid & Tedesco. 1999;Sa nders & Pace . 1977;Tedesco & Kaid . 2003). (See Part V of the 2008 survey.) However. only eight were deemed specifi c to fema le and male leadership trait s: honest. believable. sincere. fr iendly. qualified . successfu l. strong. and active (Bystrom et al. . 2004). These eight items are equally representative of fem inine leadership traits-honest. believable. sincere. and friendly-and masculine leadership traits-qualifi ed. successful. strong. and active (Bystrom. Banwart. Kaid. & Robertson . 2004). A 7 point sca le. ind icated by the num ber of "spaces" on the semantic differential sca le on the ...
... ecifi c to fema le and male leadership trait s: honest. believable. sincere. fr iendly. qualified . successfu l. strong. and active (Bystrom et al. . 2004). These eight items are equally representative of fem inine leadership traits-honest. believable. sincere. and friendly-and masculine leadership traits-qualifi ed. successful. strong. and active (Bystrom. Banwart. Kaid. & Robertson . 2004). A 7 point sca le. ind icated by the num ber of "spaces" on the semantic differential sca le on the su rvey instrum ent. was used. Both sca les produced high reliability for both ca ndidates. Cronbach's alpha for the feminine image trait sca le was acceptable for both candidates (Cl inton= .9 1; Obama=.88) as was the masculine image tra ...
... Political cynicism in general has been linked to political efficacy (Verba et al.. 1997), feeling less able to understand politics (Bennett. 1997;Bystrom et al.. 2004). and perceived levels of knowledge (Banwart. ...
... Informal attire (Flicker, 2013) present absent Smiling (Bystrom et al., 2004) present absent Physical contact not including handshake (Cmeciu, 2014;Sanghvi and Hodges, 2015) present absent ...
... Smiling and touching are considered more feminine qualities. Smiling is associated with women's desire to seek approval (Bystrom et al., 2004), while Cmeciu (2014) suggests that the presence of physical contact (hugging and embracing) can be associated with women being perceived as compassionate. The three leaders are often smiling in the photographs posted to their Twitter feeds (74% of all photos), but they are seen engaging in physical contact in only around one of five photos. ...
The picture superiority effect suggests that a single photograph can communicate a significant amount of political information to voters. Accordingly, politicians must make strategic choices in their self-presentation, particularly when considering how to respond to gender-based stereotypes. Strategic stereotype theory suggests that politicians will either emphasize or rescind gender-based stereotypes depending on whether they believe them to be advantageous to their political image. While the literature on gendered self-presentation is largely confined to television advertising, there is a growing literature focused on the online environment. In this research note, we develop a methodological framework to assess gender-based stereotypes in a purely visual environment. We test the framework using photographs from the Twitter feeds of the main party leaders in the 2018 Ontario election. The note concludes by reflecting on the methodological challenges of examining gender in visual political content online.
... In order to investigate the variables included in the three research questions, the author employs discourse (textual) analysis, based on an analysis grid of feminine and masculine communication traits (see Table 1) built from the fi ndings on gendered communication styles of Bystrom et al. (2004). The corpus of analysis encompasses Hillary Clinton's Wellesley Commencement Addresses, delivered in three key-moments of her public life: ...
... Features of gendered communication style, based onBystrom et al., 2004 ...
The emergence of women as public orators brought with it debates over the authenticity of their performance. As politics has traditionally been a venue of power populated by men, standards of public discourse entail masculine traits or contents, – the expectation of which is deleterious to feminine qualities, deemed as powerless speech. This paper investigates Hillary Rodham Clinton’s discourses delivered at Wellesley University, her alma mater, from a gendered perspective.
Clinton incorporates a series of firsts: starting with being the first student ever to deliver a commencement address at Wellesley; and her most recent accomplishment, as the first woman to receive a major party’s nomination to run for the presidency in the United States of America. This paper analyzes the evolution of her rhetorical gender negotiations over three focal discourses: 1969, which marked the beginning of her leadership, as she delivered her speech as Wellesley students’ leader - a pivotal moment, as she returned twice to deliver the commencement address from different standpoints, in 1992, as potential First Lady, and 2017, as presidential runner-up.
The analysis is based on a framework capturing feminine and masculine discursive style. The aim of the study is to assess how Clinton’s Wellesley rhetoric changed across decades from a gendered perspective, considering both style and content. From the very peak of her education to her public apology before her alma mater for her loss, Clinton embraced manifold public roles, some deemed as more masculine, others more feminine; this paper overviews the gendered dynamics of her rhetorical choices.
... When faced with the choice of breaking the ultimate glass ceiling by electing Hillary Clinton, however, they did not galvanize for the first viable woman candidate as enthusiastically as they had done for Barack Obama. Sheeler and Anderson (2013) invoked an American cultural reality vastly ignored in explaining why women have not cracked the presidential glass ceiling in the United States: "Americans have always preferred potential female presidential candidates to actual ones" (2), which suggests that constituents are more likely to embrace the idea of women in political leadership roles when they are not actually running for office. ...
... To assess the extent to which Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton negotiate their gender within their rhetorical performance, we use the framework of gendered styles employed by Bystrom et al. (2004). The authors ground their research on Campbell's model of feminine style and a masculine style drawn from previous research. ...
... Additionally, Banwart (2002) used Videostyle constructs and categories to develop WebStyle in her analysis of the verbal, nonverbal, production techniques and interactivity in political candidates' online communications. Over the years, Videostyle and Webstyle have provided fruitful frameworks for analysing the content in political television advertising and online campaign communications (Bystrom, Robertson, Banwart, & Kaid, 2004;Gordon & Miller, 2005;Johnston & Kaid, 2002;Kaid, 2002Kaid, , 2009Kaid & Johnston, 2001;Vesnic-Alujevic & Van Bauwel, 2014). ...
... Although most candidates' snaps showed them with their supporters, the Clinton campaign's Snapchat strategy also distinguished her campaign from the others since she was much more frequently seen interacting with her supporters than giving a speech or making a campaign event appearance. These findings are largely in line with research results examining the differences between candidates' gendered selfpresentations in their television ads and online content (see Bystrom et al., 2004). That is, female candidates are less likely to be present or to appear alone, but more likely to present themselves interacting with their supporters, than are male candidates (Bystrom, 2014). ...
Based on Goffman’s theories of self-presentation and framing, this exploratory investigation adapted Videostyle and Webstyle protocols to analyse the 2016 US presidential primary candidates’ Snapchat posts. This quantitative content analysis (N = 871) coded for the visual content, production techniques, nonverbal content and frames used by the five candidates who used Snapchat as a strategic tool to engage voters throughout the course of the 2016 US primary campaign. The results indicate Clinton (D) deviated from the other candidates in the visual and nonverbal content as well as the frames used in her snaps. The implications of these findings on gendered self-presentation theory as well as inferences about the campaigns’ strategic social media motivations and effectiveness are also explored.
... Several studies examine women's participation and behavior (Ackelsberg 2003;Koch 1997). Others evaluate gender differences in leadership (Alexander and Anderson 1993;Banducci and Karp 2000;Cantor and Bernay 1992;Crosby 1988;Duesrst-Lahti and Kelly 1995;Thomas 2003) and differences in male and female agendas (Banwart et al. 2003;Berstein 2000;Bystrom et al. 2004;Gertzog 1995;Chattopadhyay and Duflo 2003;Herrnson et al. 2003;Shapiro and Mahajan 1986). ...
The disproportionate representation of men, women, and different racial groups in political settings results in unbalanced behavioral styles, treatment of issues, and division of motivations. This research structures a socio-political psychology experiment to observe the behavior and assess the responses of students and auditors at Princeton University and Rutgers University. The study identifies a number of behavioral styles that include cooperative methods or conflicting styles. Seventeen groups ranging from two to seven students per group represent a range of gender and race compositions. Based on an analysis of the group decision-making processes, the researcher finds that all-male and majority male groups tend to engage in dissenting behavior whereas all-female, majority female, and equally split gender groups resolve issues without strong disagreements. Race differences in group behavior and leadership are less significant than gender differences. However, only 60 individuals contribute to the group study results and the racial distribution does not allow statistically significant claims about ethnicity.
The combination of group study and web survey participants allows for a more robust discussion of preferences and motivations. Using regression and chi-square tests, the research suggests that women and men have different preferences for specific types of issues. The responsiveness of men and women to various motivations are generally indistinguishable, but in particular, women are more likely to participate based on cash incentives. Men and women do not show different response rates for altruistic incentives. Women indicate greater preference for issues relating to education, diversity, and philanthropy. Men, on the other hand, would prefer to participate in committees that discuss issues such as budgets, financial aid, career prospects, grade policy, and admissions procedures. These variations in preference are consistent with research that shows men and women will support issues that are traditionally more “feminine” or more “masculine” (Phillips 1991).
Future research may want to better control how the experimenter presents the study to potential subjects and also consider whether gender and race differences in researcher identity will cause participants to respond differently to the researcher’s request for participation. Additional analysis of the results will evaluate the measurements as they apply across intersections of race and gender as well as interrelated influences across political behavior, choice, and commitment. As the work now stands, the study shows statistical significance for variations in distributions of sex and ethnicity.
... We argue that combining video, audio, and text data from televised debates allows one to gain a more complete understanding of candidate behavior and voter decision making. Candidates are fundamentally interested in presenting their best self to the public (Bystrom et al. 2005;Dittmar 2015). By capturing not just what candidates say, but how they say it and what they look like when they say it, we offer a far more comprehensive evaluation of candidate self-presentation than previously available to scholars. ...
Voters evaluate politicians not just by what they say, but also how they say it, via facial displays of emotions and vocal pitch. Candidate characteristics can shape how leaders use—and how voters react to—nonverbal cues. Drawing on role congruity expectations, we study how the use of and reactions to facial, vocal, and textual communication in political debates varies by candidate gender. Relying on full-length videos of four German federal election debates (2005–2017) and a minor party debate, we use video, audio, and text data to measure candidate facial displays of emotion, vocal pitch, and speech sentiment. Consistent with our expectations, Angela Merkel expresses less anger than her male opponents, but she is just as emotive in other respects. Combining these measures of emotional expression with continuous responses recorded by live audiences, we find that voters punish Merkel for anger displays and reward her happiness and general emotional displays.
... They are more likely to more positively evaluate the candidates after watching the ads than men [Kaid, Holtz-Bacha 2000]. Similar conclusions are drawn in studies carried out in the United States [Kaid, Tedesco 1999;Tedesco, Kaid 2003;Bystrom et al. 2004;Kaid, Holtz-Bacha 2006: 454] and Western European countries [Kaid, Gagnère 2006: 91]. Actually, the same tendency is observed with regard to commercials. ...
Many studies on TV political advertising suggest the gender differences in the reactions to advertising in the affective aspect, both at the level of liking and evaluation of the candidates. The article follows this trend, presenting an empirical study carried out in Poland during the 2015 presidential electoral campaign. The results show gender differences in the evaluation of candidates. We found out that women are more susceptible to changing the perception of candidates' images as a result of the influence of TV electoral ads. Interestingly, watching advertisements resulted in a statistically significant decrease in the evaluation of most candidates. Women's susceptibility to political advertising is also proved by changes in the emotional attitude to the candidates after watching the spots. In addition, the research showed that TV electoral ads cannot change the perception of candidates whose images are consolidated in public discourse.
... These conclusions advance the social construction theory of gender [26] and the role-congruity theory of female leaders [14], which may explain leaders' gender-corresponding behavior as a means of avoiding the backlash effect that manifests in negative perceptions and evaluations [13]. Previously, a key to political success for female leaders was the performance of masculine NCS [11,21,27]. However, our novel conclusions are that contemporary female leaders do not adopt masculine NCS of leadership; instead, they present a new leadership style based on feminine NCS. ...
During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been intense interest in political leaders’ nonverbal communicative structures (NCS) during televised appearances. This study analyzes the effect of gender on leaders’ NCS and presents theoretical and analytical frameworks of gendered NCS. We analyzed 20 televised appearances by 10 heads of state (five males and five females) from democratic Western countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings revealed that gender had a significant effect on leaders’ NCS, indicating that leaders presented NCS that corresponded to their gender. Male leaders’ masculine NCS included competition, warning, threatening, and scaring behavior, broad proxemics, tension leakage, and illustrative gestures, while female leaders presented feminine NCS of cooperativeness, emotional communication, empathy, optimism, eye contact, and flexible expressions. Furthermore, the effect of gender on leaders’ NCS had an interaction effect with the situation of the pandemic, indicating that countries with a female leader had fewer diseased and severe cases and more calmness and healing NCS. The conclusions present theoretical and analytical frameworks that explain the central effect of gender on contemporary leaders’ NCS. This study develops advanced distinctive profiles for male versus female leaders’ NCS of emotions, cognition, and behavior during a crisis.
... A reason why female candidates would want to use social media in electoral campaigning is to keep control over what others (e.g. newspapers) write about them (Bystrom, Robertson, Banwart, & Kaid, 2004). ...
... First, viewers may hold stereotypes about traditional gender roles that are challenged when a female candidate seeks the presidency (Banwart, 2010;Huddy & Terkildsen, 1993). Second, female candidates often strategically craft messages to avoid running afoul of gender stereotypes (Bystrom, Banwart, Kaid, & Robertson, 2004;Winfrey, 2019), though this difference in messaging may not be present in mixedgender debates (Banwart & McKinney, 2005). Third, the presence of a female candidate may change the kinds of issues raised by moderators in a debate (Turcotte & Paul, 2015). ...
This study tests persuasive effects of 30 debate performances drawn from samples (n = 5780) of 22 states over four election cycles (2004–2016). We test partisanship of the candidate, type of debate (presidential or vice-presidential), gender of the candidate, whether it was the first debate of the cycle, and whether it was a town-hall debate as possible moderators. Results reveal that viewers are likely to perceive their inparty candidate more favorably after viewing a debate, particularly for vice-presidential candidates, Democratic candidates, and female candidates. Debate viewing did not consistently influence evaluations of the outparty candidate. We conclude that debates can persuade and argue for a reconceptualization of partisan-motivated reasoning as a constraint on political persuasion.
... Communicating a balance of masculine and feminine traits and issues by candidates of www.rcommunicationr.org were more likely to be seen in casual dress and with their families (Benze & Declercq, 1985;Bystrom, Banwart, Kaid, & Robertson, 2004;Dabelko & Hernson, 1997;Fox, 1997;Johnston & White, 1994;Robertson, Froemling, Wells, & McCraw, 1999). These differences demonstrate female candidates' attempts at gender adaptiveness; women demonstrated masculine traits and professional appearance in an effort to be seen as legitimate leaders while playing to their perceived strengths with issues associated with feminine abilities. ...
Women gained the right to vote nearly 100 years ago, but it was not until 1980 that political scholars and practitioners began paying much attention to the role of women in elections. Twelve years later it was the so-called "Year of the Woman" in 1992 that sparked increased scholarly attention on women as political communicators. A record number of women, 117, ran for the U.S. Congress in 1992, but the number of women running and serving has been slow to increases since that time. One reason may be the unique challenges gender poses for female political communicators. Over three decades of research has proven gender stereotypes and expectations play a key role in how women (and men) communicate with voters. This review of research summarizes major findings and changes in gender and political communication research over the past three decades. Our focus is on communication by candidates and how gender shapes that communication. In all, 133 scholarly sources were reviewed; these sources included scholarly journals from related disciplines as well as books using quantitative , qualitative, and rhetorical methods. Our analysis demonstrates that gender stereotypes are still prevalent in American political campaigns, and women candidates must work to overcome the belief that they are not masculine enough to be political leaders. Additionally this review reveals two common strategies candidates use to negotiate gender stereotypes: feminine style and gender adaptiveness. We conclude that more research is needed to better understand how candidates navigate gender stereotypes in the 21st century, particularly in political debates and online communication
... Este trabajo se basa en el análisis de contenido entendido como la "categorización o codificación sistemática de uno o más artefactos de comunicación a través de la asignación numérica" (Kearney & Banwarth, 2017: 30). El análisis de contenido es uno de los métodos cuantitativos más utilizados para el estudio del videoestilo de la publicidad política (Bystrom, Robertson, Banwart, & Kaid, 2004;Johnston & Kaid, 2002). En México, existen estudios que han abordado diversos aspectos del videoestilo de los spots electorales en campañas presidenciales a través del análisis del contenido (Freidenberg y González, 2006;Gámiz y Brambilla, 2013). ...
Contra todos los avances en las comunicaciones digitales, la publicidad política emitida por televisión sigue siendo la principal forma de contacto entre candidatos y ciudadanos en las democracias contemporáneas. Los recursos audiovisuales en que se basa su potencia persuasiva son capaces de despertar emociones, lo mismo
de esperanza que de enojo, y materializar a las opciones políticas en personas concretas con las que nos familiarizamos. Su intensa repetición y ubicuidad, donde quiera que haya una televisión encendida, cimentan el protagonismo de este formato durante las campañas electorales.
El presente volumen reúne trabajos de destacados especialistas de América Latina para poner al día la investigación académica sobre este formato, y esclarecer con ello varias interrogantes respecto al mismo: ¿a través de qué retórica y símbolos intentan persuadir los spots? ¿los intereses ciudadanos están representados en los
mismos? ¿Cuáles son las estrategias que utilizan los partidos políticos? ¿en qué medida los ciudadanos aceptan, toleran y son persuadidos por dichos mensajes?
Por la diversidad de temas y el amplio espectro geográfico que abarca, este volumen constituye una aportación notable para los estudios en comunicación política electoral.
... Este trabajo se basa en el análisis de contenido entendido como la "categorización o codificación sistemática de uno o más artefactos de comunicación a través de la asignación numérica" (Kearney & Banwarth, 2017: 30). El análisis de contenido es uno de los métodos cuantitativos más utilizados para el estudio del videoestilo de la publicidad política (Bystrom, Robertson, Banwart, & Kaid, 2004;Johnston & Kaid, 2002). En México, existen estudios que han abordado diversos aspectos del videoestilo de los spots electorales en campañas presidenciales a través del análisis del contenido (Freidenberg y González, 2006;Gámiz y Brambilla, 2013). ...
... cit., p. 6). According to research carried out by Bystrom et al. (2004), women who run from a challenger standpoint draw their legitimacy and viability by using expert authorities, "to strengthen their candidacies and reinforce their positions" (p. 57). ...
Women’s representation in political decision-making institutions represents the pinnacle of women’s empowerment. Investigating how women gain access to these venues of power, how they act in positions of power, and how they pave the political way for other women is pivotal to understanding mechanisms of women’s representation. Normalizing the idea and the practice of women politicians will eventually strip the phrase of its gender component and contribute to an understanding that performance in politics is not determined or deterred by gender, but by each individual’s capacity. This research aimed to illustrate how two societies with different cultures, systems, histories, and people managed to generate similar evolutions in women’s legislative representation, starting with 1990 and following the 2016 elections. The findings showed that, although a similar amount of women have filled the ranks of the Romanian and the American legislative bodies, and average senior female legislators spend about 12 years in both cases, the latter are far more consistent in office, left-wing parties are more likely to generate female lawmakers, longest-lasting lawmakers are more likely to be appointed to committee leadership, yet Romanians are more likely to be assigned soft policy portfolios than their American counterparts. In terms of rhetorical gender negotiations, the two candidates analyzed display gender-balanced content and a similar strategy of creating rapport with their audience, yet the American woman capitalized on personal experience, whereas the Romanian candidate kept away from sharing the personal, reflective of the struggle of navigating the double bind.
... There is an ongoing debate among scholars over whether or not candidates should carry gender-congruent traits and issues (Lee 2014). A stream of research suggests that congruity between candidates' gender and their personality traits can increase voters' favourable evaluations (Herrnson et al. 2003;Banwart and McKinney 2005;Lee 2014), whereas a second group of studies supports the notion that gendered information does not affect voters' attitudes (Bystrom and Kaid 2002;Bystrom et al. 2004). Though adequate research has been devoted to the effects of gendered information on voters' attitudes, there is no evidence on how parliamentary candidates use gender stereotypes (in a congruent or incongruent manner) to make inferences about their issue positions. ...
The present study employs a longitudinal approach in order to investigate the use of gender stereotypes in print political advertisements for male candidates for parliamentary seats in Greece. For the purpose of the research, a sample of 863 advertisements from 20 daily national and local Greek newspapers issued between 1993 and 2009 was content analysed. The results of the study indicate that the predominant gender stereotypes in political advertising throughout the period in question were those of the successful and the dynamic male politician. The study revealed, however, that a definite change in the predominant stereotypes took place over the course of the period, there being a gradual shift towards the presentation of gender egalitarian, male figures. While in commercial advertising gender stereotypes have been extensively examined, there is a dearth of research on their manifestation in political advertising.
https://rdcu.be/3ZGV
... At the presidential level, media coverage of women candidates is more likely to focus on their appearance, dress, and their families, and is both more sexist and more negative (Carlin and Winfrey 2009;Conroy et al. 2015;Han and Heldman 2007;Heimer 2007;Heldman et al. 2005;Lawrence and Rose 2010;Miller et al. 2010;Stein 2009). Similarly, media coverage of women candidates at lower levels of office is more negative and more likely to focus on feminine trait stereotypes and stereotypically feminine policy issues (Braden 1996;Bystrom et al. 2004;Carroll and Schreiber 1997;Kahn 1994a, Kahn 1994b, Kahn 1996Kahn and Goldenberg 1991;Weir 1996;Woodall and Fridkin 2007). Scholars argue that these gendered differences in coverage negatively impact women seeking office by undercutting voters' perceptions of them as serious contenders (Burns et al. 2013;Bystrom et al. 2001;Carlin and Winfrey 2009;Heldman and Wade 2011;Kahn 1992). ...
On November 8, 2016 Donald Trump, a man with no office-holding experience, won the Electoral College, defeating the first woman to receive the presidential nomination from a major party. This paper offers the first observational test of how sexism affects presidential vote choice in the general election, adding to the rich literature on gender and candidate success for lower-level offices. We argue that the 2016 election implicated gender through Hillary Clinton’s candidacy and Donald Trump’s sexist rhetoric, and activated gender attitudes such that sexism is associated with vote choice. Using an Election Day exit poll survey of over 1300 voters conducted at 12 precincts in a mid-size city and a national survey of over 10,000 White and Black Americans, we find that a politically defined measure of sexism—the belief that men are better suited emotionally for politics than women—predicts support for Trump both in terms of vote choice and favorability. We find the effect is strongest and most consistent among White voters. However, a domestically defined measure of sexism—whether men should be in control of their wives—offers little explanatory power over the vote. In total, our results demonstrate the importance of gender in the 2016 election, beyond mere demographic differences in vote choice: beliefs about gender and fitness for office shape both White men and women’s preferences.
... Given these gendered expectations, women candidates often use feminine communication styles to appeal to voters. For example, in their political ads, they focus on character traits rather than issues, appear with their families, dress formally, use surrogates to vouch for their credibility (Bystrom et. al., 2004;Dabelko & Herrnson, 1997;Larson, 2001), and refrain from attacking their male opponents (Kahn & Gordon, 1997). ...
... Getting political information from campaign advertising was positively associated with ratings of both Clinton and Fiorina's honesty ratings. As Bystrom, Banwart, Kaid, and Robertson (2004) argued, advertising provides female candidates an opportunity to control the message and the image it creates, and this study suggests that is still true. ...
The Iowa Caucus has been the first chance for voters to voice their choice for president since 1976, and every 4 years since the nation’s attention has turned to Iowa in the months leading up to the election. The campaigning in Iowa starts early, very early, and voters are inundated with news coverage, political advertising, and candidate visits. The winners of the Iowa Caucus may not always win the nomination, but losing in Iowa can end a campaign. Given that Iowa voters have such an important role in the nomination process, this essay examines their exposure to political news and opinions of the candidates leading up to caucus night. A state-wide phone survey of 12,000 Iowans conducted in November 2015 and January 2016 reveal gender and political party differences in where Iowans get their political news, and related differences in the leadership, honesty, and compassion leading candidates were perceived to be by Iowa Caucus–goers.
... Research suggests, however, that blogs through their interactive and collaborative features, which allow the readers to communicate directly with the blogging politician, can serve as platforms for political participation and mobilization . Moreover, feminist scholars have shown that female politicians rely strongly on web-campaigning in order to develop a personal brand and avoid being gender-stereotyped by mainstream media (Bystrom et al., 2004), and that the interactive and community-fostering nature of the blog space appeals especially to female politicians (Van Zoonen, 2002). Even though the blogs may be directed foremost at a likeminded audience, we have reason not to mitigate the impact of their messages: since also journalists seek information from political blogs, these then have an impact on mainstream media and thus on a broader public . ...
This doctoral dissertation explores how populist radical right politicians in Finland and Sweden use political blogs for the purpose of nationalist political communication and persuasion. The study builds upon research that has highlighted the growing importance of social media in the transmission of radical right, nationalist and anti-immigration political discourse, and to the central role of these media in the gradual normalisation of such discourse. Moreover, the study acknowledges the potential – indicated by previous research – of political blogs to function as tools for voter persuasion and mobilisation. The study aims to contribute with insights on how social psychological dynamics such as self-presentation, identity-constructions, discursive divisions between ‘ingroups’ and ‘outgroups’, strategies of persuasion, and appeals to emotions and nostalgic memories are involved in these processes.
The dissertation examines blog-entries by members of the populist radical right parties the Finns Party (Perussuomalaiset) in Finland and the Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna) in Sweden during 2007-2015. The bloggers who are the focus of the study represent, first, the parties’ extreme anti-immigration factions, comprised first and foremost of white men (Studies I and IV); second, the parties’ women’s leagues (Study II); and third, politicians with immigrant or other ethnic minority background who have chosen to join a populist radical right party (Study III). The critical discursive and rhetorical psychological study explores the nationalist political blog discourse at three levels: it investigates the arguments it contains; by what verbal, visual and digital means these arguments are presented in order to seem convincing; and what implications these formulations might have in a social and political sense. In so doing, the study approaches the political blog-discourse as part and parcel of its broader argumentative context.
This dissertation contributes to social psychological research on nationalist political communication and persuasion in three central ways. First, by delving into the discourse of both white men, women and ethnic minority members in populist radical right parties, it provides an understanding of the diversity of voices within such parties. Women and immigrants within these parties seem to be faced with particular dilemmas: the former ones with that between societal norms of gender equality and the patriarchal politics of the populist radical right; and the latter ones with that of being an immigrant in an anti-immigration political party. The critical discursive and rhetorical analyses of this study are able to show how these politicians strive to reconcile such dilemmas in their blog-discourse in ways that nevertheless remain faithful to the promotion of patriarchal and nationalist political causes.
Second, this dissertation extends the critical discursive and rhetorical approach with analytical tools from narrative psychology, social semiotic studies of images and studies of online political communication. Thus moving ‘beyond the text’ in its analytical approach, the study is able to explore the multitude of (audio-)visual, digital and communicative features contained in political blogs, and how these interact with ‘classical’ rhetorical strategies, narrative structures, and socially and culturally rooted discursive resources in the construction of nationalist political arguments.
Third, the study shows that the (audio-)visual, digital and communicative features of the blogs allow for the presentation of socially sensitive and even racist political views without the individual blogger having to express an explicit personal opinion on the matter at hand. Because of these features political blogs seem to constitute an optimal sphere for nationalist political communication and persuasion: they enable the conveying of powerful, credible and emotion-provoking messages, yet they concomitantly protect the blogger from charges of holding racist views.
Discourse contained in political blogs does not remain in the blogosphere, but becomes circulated in mainstream media and thus influences the broader societal and political debate. In order to grasp the character and societal implications of contemporary political communication and persuasion, this dissertation thus encourages social psychological research to develop its tools for critically studying discourse contained in political blogs.
... Indeed, a stereotypically masculine conception of politics persists in either subtle or direct ways (Gidengil and Everitt 2003). This gendered mediation means that "the way in which politics is reported is significantly determined by an orientation which privileges the practice of politics as an essentially male pursuit" (Sreberny-Mohammadi and Ross 1996, 112; see also Bystrom et al. 2004;Norris 1996a). ...
The extent to which politics is still a “man’s game” is made evident every time a top political office has a female holder for the first time. These incredibly revealing moments may give a new social meaning to women in politics—women’s political presence—and women and politics—gendered social constructions about women’s capacity to rule. This article explores the types of gendered mediation underpinning the representation of first-ever women serving in historically male-dominated political offices in Spain. It shows that gender media frames are pervasive, which may lead to an effective annihilation of women’s symbolic representation.
... Kahn and Goldenberg (1991) suggest that women candidates are generally perceived as less electorally viable and, therefore, receive less coverage. At the same time, some research finds that women receive equal or even more media coverage than the men running against them (Bystrom, Banwart, Kaid, & Robertson, 2004; Lawrence & Rose, 2010; Trimble, 2007). Trimble (2007) argues that the relatively greater attention Kim Campbell received during her campaign for the leadership of the Canadian Progressive Conservative Party in 1993 was a result of the novelty that she could (and did) become the country's first woman prime minister. ...
We investigate gendered and racial mediation in news coverage in the 2014 Toronto Mayoral Election. Drawing on a content analysis of a large sample of election stories in two major daily newspapers, we find significant differences across candidates in the prominence of coverage received and in the media’s attention to candidates’ racial and ethnic characteristics and immigrant status. In particular, we find that a non-White woman candidate (Olivia Chow) was significantly less prominent in media coverage and significantly more likely to be racialized than other candidates, despite being a well-established politician and the frontrunner in polling for a sizeable portion of the election period. These findings highlight, among other things, the significance of the intersection of race and gender in the study of electoral politics and political communication.
Previous work in the area of gender and social media has shown that women campaign and market themselves online very differently than men. While female candidates are more likely to discuss certain types of issues (like education and healthcare) in their campaigns, some research has shown that as more women are added to a congressional race, less attention is paid to those “women’s issues.” Given the steady increase in the number of women running for office and the increasing saliency of “women’s issues” in American politics, this study examines the ways that female candidates marketed themselves differently than their male competitors in the 2020 U.S. House races on Twitter, paying particular attention to the influence of partisanship. The results show that women stressed different policy priorities in their tweets in 2020 compared to male candidates. While partisanship affects what issues get highlighted by candidates on Twitter, gender plays a role in whether candidates discuss issues that directly affect women as a group. Controlling for the context of the race, these findings demonstrate that when more women are added to a race, the likelihood of discussing “women’s issues” increases.
This article examines differences in news coverage of female candidates using a media sociology framework that examines the interplay between organizational, routine, and individual levels of influence. The analyses find that national and local newspapers are more likely to write about the political qualifications of female candidates relative to male candidates, and female journalists at local newspapers are most likely to write about women’s political qualifications. Female candidates receive more feminine stereotypic coverage across newspapers, especially in all-women elections. These results uncover important differences across media organizations that affect how female candidates develop their campaign strategies and voter decision-making.
We draw on research from gender stereotypes and mass communication to develop and test an innovative theoretical framework of implicit and explicit gender framing. This framework delineates how and when coverage in newspapers will report on female candidates differently than male candidates. Implicit gender frames subtly draw on masculine stereotypes to reinforce patriarchal power structures through their coverage of political candidates. Explicit gender frames are the overtly sexist “hair, hemlines, and husband” coverage women receive more frequently relative to men. We argue that the print news media will be more likely to rely on implicit gender frames to elucidate differences between women and men running for political office. Using an exhaustive content analysis of Senate campaign news coverage, we find important differences in the coverage of women and men running against one another. We also find the use of explicit gender frames to be especially common in all-female races. These differences in coverage, especially in all-women contests, can perpetuate stereotypic beliefs that women lack the qualifications needed for political office among voters, and stymie women’s progress toward parity in representation.
Female candidates face a messaging challenge. There is a strong association between masculinity and political leadership. Stressing masculinity can result in a likability backlash for female candidates often seen as lacking feminine qualities, such as warmth. Preventing a likability backlash by highlighting feminine qualities can also harm female candidates. Current scholarship offers conflicting conclusions about how female candidates balance these gendered challenges. We fill this empirical and theoretical gap with a trait-balancing theory clarifying how and when female candidates use feminine and masculine traits to manage competing expectations. We use original data merging information on candidate advertising strategies across three election cycles. We show that female candidates strategically balance masculine and feminine stereotypes in ways that often differ from their male counterparts but also differ based on female candidate partisanship and incumbency. These results are consequential because they highlight how female candidates manage gendered pressures in campaign strategies, which can affect their ability to win elections and, ultimately, women’s representation in government.
We examine how campaigns use advertising in the current digital era – and how spending decisions depend on the stage of the campaign and the particular goal being pursued. Our investigation relies on a database consisting of thousands of ads placed on Facebook by 24 different U.S. Senate campaigns in 2018. In the end, we find that campaigns pursue a large number of goals in their Facebook advertising and that the sequence of the campaign has a major influence on the goals pursued.
Para citar este trabajo: Quevedo-Redondo, R. (2021). El estilo retórico femenino en la entrevista política. Una década de aplicación en Telva. index.comunicación, 11(1), 271-295. https://doi.org/10.33732/ixc/11/01Elesti
The record high number of women who ran for the U.S. Congress during the midterm elections led many journalists to proclaim 2018 as another “Year of the Woman.” Although not every female candidate was successful, this large number of women running for office provides the opportunity to advance our understanding of the ways in which women present themselves to their voters. Using the “Biography” pages of more than 1,500 2018 congressional campaign websites, we use a structural topic model to examine how these candidates present themselves to their constituencies. In doing this, we find great variance in the presentation styles of women running for Congress in 2018. We also find that prior political experience, more so than gender, is the primary driver in influencing how candidates (both men and women) present themselves. Experienced candidates use similar styles that highlight their past political work while amateur candidates are more likely to use “values-driven” language.
This book examines women’s political communication in Africa, capturing previously unheard women’s voices, and presenting detailed information on overlooked communication strategies and forms of power relations employed by African women and women of African descent.
By examining the disputes, accomplishments and/or setbacks experienced by women in political spaces, it underscores feminist intersections of political communication in Africa. It also explores the glamor, humor, harmony and tact that women as state and non-state actors have contributed to Africa’s political landscape through the realities of female soft power.
The book addresses issues concerning how and why women do and should participate in politics; at what level they have employed political communication strategies; and which types. It also questions ideas and ideals that have guided or continue to guide feminist political communication in Africa’s growing democracy. Lastly, it highlights African women’s conscious approach and rejuvenated interest in developing their communication skills and strategies given their vital role in state-building.
This chapter examines strategies that were used by the ZANU–PF’s women’s league in influencing succession within the party. Against the background of seeing African politics as masculine, the study argues that succession which culminated to the fall of late Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe, was for the first time in the history of Zimbabwean politics seen ZANU–PF’s women’s league, being the key players. Informed by framing theory and post-colonial feminist theory, the study used The Herald as the case study to analyse strategies that the ZANU–PF women’s league used to politically communicate their succession position before the fall of Robert Mugabe through a coup in November 2017. Through the use of discourse analysis, the study found that the league framed itself as the custodians of the party, and it worked with the party’s youth league in solving the succession matrix.
Despite the fact that Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the first female president in Africa has used the media vigorously to appeal for votes in Liberia’s presidential elections and to highlight her skills as well as her extensive experience in politics, this and other dynamics of her political leadership engagement have not been adequately examined. It is this gap in scholarship that informs these researchers’ attempt to examine her political rhetoric and biographic/political exploits. The study revealed that President Johnson-Sirleaf used the media to dispel rumours by providing facts to discuss her plans for economic growth, as well as further her agenda as it related to women’s rights, education for the girl child and political accountability.
Television debates during electoral campaigns constitute a central element within the political communication sphere. This research examines the digital conversation on Twitter on the broadcast of two television debates during the general elections campaign in Spain in April 2019: #ElDebateDecisivo of Atresmedia (among male presidential candidates) and #L6Neldebate of La Sexta (among female political candidates). The research provides a renovated perspective regarding the progressive feminisation of politics, establishing a correlation among key variables, such as the gender of the political leaders participating in the debates, the role of television as the main means during elections, and the influence of the public interaction on Twitter. Methodologically, the study pays attention to 313,343 impacts generated by 101,510 users or nodes. As pointed out in the conclusions, in the masculine debate (#ElDebateDecisivo) the active audience’s contribution to the public and political debate is defined in a more banal way, in contrast with the women’s debate (#L6Neldebate), in which a more political consciousness is perceived.
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Los debates televisados constituyen uno de los elementos centrales de la comunicación política electoral. Esta investigación examina la conversación digital en Twitter surgida a raíz de dos debates durante la campaña electoral de las elecciones generales de abril de 2019 en España: #ElDebateDecisivo de Atresmedia (entre los candidatos a la presidencia, íntegramente masculino) y #L6Neldebate de La Sexta (íntegramente femenino). La investigación aporta una perspectiva renovada a la feminización progresiva de la política, poniendo en relación el género de las personas participantes en los debates electorales con un medio de comunicación de masas como la televisión y con la interacción de los públicos en una red social como Twitter. Se analizan 313.343 impactos de 101.510 usuarios o nodos, concluyendo que la aportación de la audiencia activa al debate público-político en el debate masculino se ubica en términos más banales y menos políticos que su equivalente femenino.
Studies on media representation of women candidates during elections reveal that they tend to be muted or made less visible; and if they are indeed present, they are depicted in an unsavoury fashion. This media slant can sway public opinion of women candidates and, ultimately, have an impact on election results. With this in mind, I examine how women candidates are portrayed in selected news reports during the election campaign of Malaysia’s 14th General Election in 2018. As well, I aim to find out whether the news reports have adhered to the recommendations of the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action with particular regard to the fair and balanced reporting of women candidates in news discourse. Data collected from selected online editions of newspapers and a news portal during the election campaign were analysed using tools drawn from Halliday’s systemic functional theory and van Leeuwen’s social actor network. Findings revealed that women candidates are denied agency or power as they are cast as Actors in a higher number of instrumental and non-transitive Material clauses. Their representation does not quite adhere to the recommendations of the Beijing Platform for Action as what is emphasised is their familial role as a “wife”, “mother” or “daughter”, and as appendages to their famous husbands or fathers. The focus is also on their compassion and empathy, which may make them appear less suitable for important leadership roles. These show that classic stereotypes of femininity are still being reinforced, which would delegitimise women political candidates and hinder their political career.
We aimed to explore the extent to which women and men politicians tweet about different issues. We captured 82,890 tweets sent by Labour and Conservative politicians during the 2017 British general election campaign, analysed 38,255 original tweets and identified 7,651 tweets that mentioned a political issue. We also qualitatively analysed 210 tweets to better understand the content, tone and orientation of content. We suggest that gender and party, both together and separately, exert some influence on tweet topic. However, we also suggest that the particular interests of individual politicians play a role in determining the focus of their issue-based tweets.
In this book we present the latest advances made in strategic and organizational communication. Beyond traditional approaches, we propose new ways of doing and understanding communication in today’s society. We discuss situations far from the traditional path. We delve into global citizens’ problems and the way in which dialogue and participation processes are connected. The problem of evictions and the emergence of citizens as new political actors, the management of sustainability in the digital era, the development of positive communication in socially aware companies, grassroots movements in defence of public space, how resilience can shape education, the use of brands and professional associations as activists in the defence of public interests, the feminization of politics and the power of visual elements in political campaigns are some of the issues addressed in this volume.
In the book, communication is considered as the strategy to raise our voices and be heard. Strategic and organizational communication takes on an activist role to create a society that is fairer and more committed to citizens.
The diversity represented in this book, not only with respect to the authors’ nationalities, but also in the theoretical and empirical approaches, reflects one of the most salient features of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) and the Organizational and Strategic Communication Section’s identity.
This study is interested in focusing on the Platform of Affected by the Mortgage of Spain, an association that was born in 2009 in Barcelona, and today has representation throughout Spain. This is considered as a political actor from a macro analysis, due to the pressure and influence it carries out in the Spanish public political space. We consider that the construction of citizenship does not only occur in an area of traditional political participation, but that citizens begin to participate "in areas of 'empowerment' that are defined according to their management capacity and also according to their instrumental evaluation of which is the most conducive to the demand that wants to manage "(Hopenahyn, 2001: 119). In this context, this study aims to: a) Identify the political actors that manifest themselves in the digital arena, linked to the political organization that interests us; b) Characterize these political actors and describe them; c) Find similarities and differences between the new political actors and the traditional ones; d) Reflect and discuss the possible impact of digital spaces in the construction of citizenship. The most relevant findings are that we were able to observe the importance that users of Twitter give to content of denunciation and politicians, shaping the discourse of an organization, and thus generating an important support for the pressure exerted by the Association in the public political space. In this way, users establish their participation, and therein lies a process of action that equates to a new form of citizenship.
Female participation in global politics became remarkable and there are increasing numbers in recent century. Visual appearance has gained attention along with globalisation and increasing significance of global media flow. Fashion became a tool of politicians as a strategic tool. Female politicians tend to receive more attention in their fashion and often interpreted by gendered views in media articles. In addition, most research of female politicians’ fashion seems to focus on western female politicians than non-westerns that provide a notion of Imperialism also provide limitations to study of Asian female politicians. This article presents the implication of gender stereotype and Imperialism in global politics through investigating Korean female politicians’ fashion. A main conclusion of the study shows that the suit is a legacy of masculinity and prevalence of gender stereotypes in politics. Additionally, global politics retain its masculinity and gender stereotypes the Korean female politicians’ tenacity for ‘the suit’ fashion may perpetuate.
As the Internet has come to play a greater role in politics, there has been a growing scholarly interest in how digital and social media are changing politics. The competition between the innovation and normalization hypotheses has been at the center of the debate. This article sets out to identify evidence of innovation and normalization in terms of how politicians communicate in- and the level of influence they are attaining within the political blogosphere. The analyses conducted show paradoxical results as we find that those groups of politicians who are utilizing political communication in the blogosphere in more innovative and progressive ways – mirroring the hopes and expectations about how social media might influence politicians and political communication – have weaker positions within the blog network compared to other politicians.
Does an individual’s gender help to explain if he or she is more or less likely to be recruited to run for political office? While the effects of sex differences on the candidate emergence process have been studied extensively, the influence of masculinity and femininity is less understood. To uncover if gender influences whether an individual is recruited to run for political office, this article relies on data from an original survey of a nationally representative sample of city council members, with the primary independent variable, individuals’ self-identified masculinity, measured by the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ). Results show that those who identify as more masculine, whether male or female, are more likely to be recruited to run for elected office. This effect holds for a variety of types of recruitment, such as political elites and women’s organizations. The findings add an important dimension to the supply-side explanations for women’s underrepresentation.
This Handbook provides the most comprehensive overview of the role of electoral advertising on television and new forms of advertising in countries from all parts of the world currently available. Thematic chapters address advertising effects, negative ads, the perspective of practitioners and gender role. Country chapters summarize research on issues including political and electoral systems; history of ads; the content of ads; reception and effects of ads; regulation of political advertising on television and the Internet; financing political advertising; and prospects for the future. The Handbook confirms that candidates spend the major part of their campaign budget on television advertising. The US enjoys a special situation with almost no restrictions on electoral advertising whereas other countries have regulation for the time, amount and sometimes even the content of electoral advertising or they do not allow television advertising at all. The role that television advertising plays in elections is dependent on the political, the electoral and the media context and can generally be regarded as a reflection of the political culture of a country. The Internet is relatively unregulated and is the channel of the future for political advertising in many countries.
This article discusses the articulations between gender, politics, and media. With the increasing importance taken by the personalization and personalities of political actors in the political process, this research aims to offer a better understanding of the ways in which female politicians are depicted by and in the media. By looking closely at discourses about some of these women politicians, we intend to better understand the gender norms and expectations that they deal with while doing their job as parliamentarians. Our focus on the representations produced through media discourse on Quebec and Canadian politicians is informed by leadership theories and concepts of representation and framing gender. The qualitative discourse analysis of over 300 articles about 11 women politicians in Quebec newspapers has highlighted six portraits: Women Above All, as well as Iron Ladies, Good Mothers, Women Fighters, Stars, and Exceptional Pioneers. These results are critically discussed in relation to other research about gender, media, and politics.
This research examined the influence of negative political advertising frames on the thoughts and feelings people generate in response to campaign advertising. Preparing and conducting this investigation involved the use of a multiple-method strategy. Content analysis identified two advertising frames (i.e., candidate theme and ad hoc issue advertisements) and two experiments separately induced political cynicism and politician accountability. Three hundred and sixty people participated in the experimental studies, in which they read and responded, using a thought-listing technique, to candidate theme or ad hoc issue negative advertisements. Results demonstrated that participants were more likely to generate cynical comments and hold politicians accountable for the country's ills when reading candidate theme advertisements than ad hoc issue advertisements. The results indicate that this contributes to a political climate of cynicism and may function to erode the electorate's overall trust in government.
This experimental research compares exposure to presidential ads via the Internet versus traditional channels in the 2000 presidential campaign. The results indicate that undecided voters exposed to Internet political advertising changed their vote choice to Al Gore, whereas undecideds who viewed the same spots on television changed their preferences in favor of George W. Bush. The political cynicism levels of neither group were affected by exposure, but there were significant differences in the types of information seeking and political activity intentions between the two groups.
As scholars puzzle over the so-called gender gap in the 1996 presidential election, we invite them to consider the ways in which communication by the Clinton campaign explicitly and implicitly told women that Clinton was a president more closely allied with their concerns than Dole. When we examined 111 Democratic and 79 Republican speeches and 56 Democratic and 31 Republicans ads that were delivered or appeared during the presidential campaign between the conventions and election day, we found Clinton blunting the traditional Republican argument that Democrats favor big intrusive government and oppose "family values" by arguing that he had used government to protect women's rights, health, and children from the assaults of Dole-Gingrich and their allies the tobacco and gun lobbies. This theme was reinforced by Democratic ads that situated Clinton within the context of the family and by Democratic rhetoric in which women, children, and families were central elements.
Political advertisements have become a common format through which political candidates communicate with voters. This experimental study compared viewer perceptions of Bush and Dukakis as a function of their 1988 political commercials. The results indicated that Bush's image was positively affected by the commercials, while commercials of Dukakis did not significantly affect his image. For both candidates, image improvement seems directly related to the generation of specific emotions through the campaign ads.
For years, scholars have been interested in how the media report political campaigns. Until recently, however, few researchers have focused media attention on how the media cover political ads. In response to the increasing number of ads capturing media and public attention, the researchers conducted a content analysis of 1988 and 1992 televised, presidential adwatches. Findings offer much support for previous research including: adwatches (1) focus on negative ads, (2) portray advertisements more negatively than positively, and (3) usually appear as priority agenda items. An interesting change was found between 1988 and 1992 in the way adwatches are reported. In 1988, adwatches were found mostly as part of routine campaign reports whereas in 1992 adwatches were more prominently featured as the focus of the news story. Findings point to the increasing importance of political advertising as part of news reports on political campaigns.
Studies of the impact of mass media on political attitudes and behavior have generally concluded that the mass media do little more than reinforce prior preferences. These studies have painted a simplistic picture of how the mass media influences the electorate. Using the 1990 Australian National Election as a test case, results show that while the mass media have a significant impact on political attitudes and voting behavior, especially among respondents who viewed the political debates, this effect is specifically restricted to males. Thus, the mass media do have a direct effect on political outcomes, and this process appears to be an exclusively male phenomenon. Several explanations are discussed to account for this finding.
This paper examines newspaper coverage in Illinois state legislative races. A content analysis of newspaper articles appearing in a sample of 21 legislative races was undertaken. The study tests for differences in coverage along lines of gender. Results indicate there are differences, but they are subtle. While overall quantity and quality of coverage are similar for male and female candidates, a closer look reveals that differences, including those along lines of candidate status and issue choice, may cause concern for female candidates in these races.
This paper examines the press coverage of the 1993 Virginia and 1996 West Virginia gubernatorial elections. In both elections, the Democratic Party nominated female candidates, a first in both states. The research seeks to understand if the press was biased against the women candidates and whether or not that bias can be attributed to their gender. While the data collected from newspapers in both states show that the press was negative, the evidence suggests that the nega-tivity was based primarily on issues other than gender.
Selling a first lady is like selling any product: You have to target your audience, narrowcast-and solidify that base market. -Pesman, "Getting Real: Hillary Clinton Is a Product With an Image Problem, So How Do You 'Sell' First Lady in the '96 Re-Election Bid?"
This study examines candidate discourse across four media types: television spots, radio spots, debates, and Web sites in the 2000 presidential primaries. The purpose of the analysis was to determine whether there is a relationship between candidate discourse on certain issues and the level of importance assigned to those issues by voters. The analysis indicates that some candidates are more effective than are others at addressing the issues most important to voters. The analysis also indicates that two message forms—debates and television spots—were modestly successful at adapting to audience preferences and two forms—radio spots and Web sites—were somewhat less successful at adapting to audience preferences.
This study investigated differences in male and female responses to
political television broadcasts during recent elections in the United
States, Britain, France, Germany, Poland, and Romania. Experimental
studies indicated that male and female voters responded differently to
the political broadcasts but that these patterns were not uniform across
the countries.
Previous research on negative political advertising has been confined to voters ‘ evaluations of those ads and their effects on voters ‘ evaluations of candidates. We examine the effects that negative political advertisements have on the general attitude of trust in government. Do mutual accusations by competing candidates in a campaign affect voter attitudes about the political system?Evidence from both an experiment and a survey suggests that they do not. Experimental subjects exposed to a very negative campaign had similar levels of trust in government as those exposed to a less negative campaign. A statewide survey of registered voters in 1988 showed only a modest correlation between perceived negativity of the presidential campaign and low trust.Both studies find evidence that trust conditions the relationship between negativity and candidate evaluation. Voters with lower levels of trust in government are more affected by the degree of negativity in the campaign.
Since the 1970s, women have begun to make progress in attaining statewide and national elective office. Many political communication scholars and pundits suggest that gender is a factor in the way women campaign for political office. Using a sample of 99 advertisements from statewide and federal elections, a content analysis was employed to examine the way women use the negative political commercial. Specifically, this study explores whether gender is a significant variable in female campaigns' negative commercials. Contrary to the belief that gender affects campaign communication styles, little evidence for that belief was found.
With a growing number of women seeking public office, it seems particularly important to compare public perceptions of male and female candidate performances of political television commercials, a dominant form of candidate-voter communication in modern elections. This experimental study tested reactions to both male and female candidates in each of six advertising settings. Two of these were settings traditionally associated with females, two were neutral settings. Results indicated that female candidates can be just as successful in television advertisements as male candidates, and that females are particularly successful when performing in male settings.