Ap u.s. government & politics Monday, October 16, 2017

Current events discussion 7 Minutes

Political campaigns: strategy and process

The Campaign Committee Composed of: fund-raisers lawyers accountants press secretary travel scheduler advertising specialist direct-mail company pollsters advisors volunteers

Strategic Considerations Tone Theme Timing Target Voters Mobilization

Selling the Candidate (Candidate-Centered Campaigning) Campaigns circa 1900: Party-centered Nominations: Parties controlled who was nominated. Political Organization: Parties monopolized political organization Mass Media: And parties controlled the flow of information to the voter Campaigns today: Candidate-centered Nominations: 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 special interest groups Mass Media: Party control of the media has vanished

Results of Candidate-centered Campaigning *Favors incumbents *Favors political outsiders who have high name recognition: *Favors people who are handsome and glib, *Favors people who can raise humongous sums of money. **And it helps to be fabulously rich yourself

Types of Campaign Issues Position Issue: An policy dispute on which the candidates take different (often opposite) stances Examples: Health Care Reform Gun Control Military Policy towards North Korea Valence Issue: An issue of generalized feelings among voters that can have a strong influence on perceptions of candidates, and or tendencies to vote for or against a candidate Examples: Direction of the Country State of the Economy Candidate “Likeability”

Media Influence on Campaigns How the media contributes to Candidate-Centered Campaigns: Coverage of candidates’ backgrounds “Horserace Journalism” Image/personality-centered coverage “Feeding frenzy” Focus on candidates’ gaffes How candidates’ use of media contributes: Image-building Choreographed public appearances Negative commercials/advertisements Use of sound bites

Communicating with Voters Email Social Media Campaign Ads Micro-Targeting Election Day Check-ins

More on 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

Exit Ticket: Practice MCQ The largest amount of political coverage in newspapers during presidential campaigns is devoted to a. Day‐to-day campaign activities. b. The platforms of the major parties. c. Candidates’ policy stands on domestic issues. d. Candidates’ stands on foreign policy issues. e. Candidates’ experience and qualifications.

Homework “Going Dirty” & Reading Questions Lanahan, p. 506-514