Election Campaigns Section 1 Understanding Elections Chapter 12

Television and the 1960 Election Nixon, Kennedy, and the Cold War Democrat John F. Kennedy focused on the Cold War to criticize the Republican Richard M. Nixon. The Presidential Debate First televised debate Kennedy was tanned and wore stage makeup; Nixon did not Different opinions between radio listeners and TV viewers about who won the debate The Debate’s Aftermath Kennedy won the election by fewer than 120,000 votes Television’s effects on viewers’ impressions

Campaign Planning Campaign Staff Campaign Strategy A campaign informs the public about the candidate and the party’s platform, their stand on important topics. Campaign Staff Campaign Manager Finance Chair Pollster Media Coordinator Scheduler Issue Advisers, others Campaign Strategy Identify Supporters Conduct polls to identify where most support is Target the Message Use polls and focus groups to learn which issues most important to supporters. Package the Candidate Manage media coverage of candidate’s image and message

Conducting a Campaign On the Campaign Trail Tackling the Issues Candidates spend most of campaign time on swing states: where support for candidates is about equal, or in states where their support is greatest Tackling the Issues — Candidates use stump speeches, or standard speeches usually less than 20 minutes long, express candidate’s beliefs On key issues. — Many candidates use slogans Negative Campaigning — Candidates may use negative campaigning, attacks on opposing candidate’s weaknesses

Conducting a Campaign Campaigns and the Media — Broadcast Media Campaign’s media coordinator uses voters’ ages to determine which type of media to use to reach them. — Broadcast Media Television, photos, radio. Media often use sound bites of candidates’ speeches — Print Media Newspapers, magazines, especially ads Often more detailed than broadcast; editorials influential — The Internet Blogs, online editions of print media, TV news Polls and Polling Polls can show where support is weakest; show which demographic may support the candidate; influence voters

Vocabulary Platform a party’s stand on important issues and the party’s general principles Focus Group a small gathering of people whose response to something is studied and used to predict the response of a larger population Swing States states where support for each candidate is about equal Stump Speech a standard speech that candidates give during a campaign Negative Campaigning attacking the opponent during a campaign Sound Bite a very brief segment of a speech or statement Demographic a population group defined by a specific characteristic or set of characteristics