Why Do Campaigns Really Change People's Behavior?

If non-committed voters are persuaded to stay home, the influence of the dedicated and party loyal voter is increased. This helps to keep small majorities in positions of power. The authors state that there has not been an increase in the negativity of elections, but there is problem with how they define this. If we look at the severity of the comments uttered during campaign season, then no. There has always been crude vulgarity in politics since, “Andrew Jackson had to endure attacks by his political opponents that his deceased mother was a prostitute” (114). But if frequency is the dependent variable, I believe there is notable rise, due to increase in time we spend in front of a screen. We see these negative messages more often, and memory is based on intensity and

Political campaigning is now the full-fledged live version of chess, with pawns, queens and kings, but is all this parading and strategizing actually important? What is even the purpose behind political campaigns; is it to inform the public about a candidate or through clever means to win an election at all costs? The truth of the matter is that campaigns do actually serve an important purpose in the political world of America. Its purpose is to help inform voters about candidates and to improve the number of voters at the polling place. In order for these goals to be achieved there needs to be a clear platform upon which the campaign is built.

In the 2012 presidential election, the incumbent Barack Obama campaigned against Mitt Romney (Document E). Both candidates used glittering generalities to appeal to voter’s emotions. Obama used “Hope” and “Forward” and Romney used “Believe in America.” Neither of these catch phrases were informative as they did not provide any real information to the voters.

“The Candidate” is a prime example to the inside of a campaign and the inside of an election. Elections do not only include the candidate themselves but the campaign manager, the supporters, the nominee’s family and the media crew. During “The Candidate” democratic nominee John McKay uses many strategies in order to “not” win his election for senator of California. Going into this campaign McKay was in hopes that he would not win the election, as time passed his view of the election changed as did his strategies.

As during any election cycle, nearly all types of media are currently flooded with campaign advertisements that viciously attack various candidates’ politics, character, or sometimes both. People are willing to go to extraordinary lengths in order to gain power over others. This is likely due to the fact that everyday citizens are so susceptible to influence from those above them. As demonstrated in World War II, individuals are extremely susceptible to impact from authority figures.

Campaigns in politics are important in determining outcomes and inform the voters who remain undecided. Also, campaigns matter because although the candidates or media officials may know what the outcome will be, the voters themselves do not (107). Aside from campaigns, conventions are also important, if not more important. Party nominating conventions affect the apathetic, uninterested electorates who think conventions are interesting and exciting, often known as the Olympic games of politics (121). This experience for voters can carry influence, and is a time of “intense political learning” (129). Therefore, aggregately, conventions make public opinion meaningful because the citizens who watch make an informed decision about a candidate, and have facts about why they will vote for that candidate. The chief reason why individual public opinion is meaningless during presidential elections is the “nonattitudes.” Nonattitudes are survey responses made up on the spot during an interview by a respondent who has no attitude on politics (113). Therefore, these individuals diminish the value of public opinion because we hate inconsistency and this creates an abundance of views on issues. However, during election night, exit polls support why aggregate opinion is also important. Exit polls are meaningful because one hundred percent of those leaving the polls have voted (102). Therefore, we can get real results from the electorates and this makes collective public opinion

Political scientists have observed that individuals and groups donating to campaigns choose from two basic strategies. The first is the electoral strategy. Donors that follow this strategy use their money to help elect candidates who support their views and to defeat those who do not. The goal is to increase the likelihood that Congress, their state legislature, or their city council will vote as the donor wishes it would vote.

The purpose of campaigns is to reach voters and inform them about their politician’s platform. This is the basic definition of campaigns. Sometimes this gets lost in translation, meaning that many campaigns veer off from this definition. In today’s generation, many campaigns are too involved with making headlines by using unrelated statements or criticizing other campaigns, also known

According to the lecture, the concept of the permanent campaign has affected political parties, the role of political advisors, and campaign funding in modern politics. With campaigns going on without interruption, a politician’s personality while in office has a strong influence

In this hypothesis, the logic presented is that, the more a politician can spend on his campaign, the more his name and ideas will get out to the public; therefore the greater his chance of being elected. The independent variable is the amount a politician spends on his campaign which affects the dependent variable, the greater the chance he has of being elected. When a politician’s name is presented often through means of television ads or signs, the more likely his constituents are to remember his name come Election Day. This increases his chance being elected over an opponent who is unknown

Returning to the three original polls, these measures of public opinion are useful. Throughout the year, we have discussed how campaigns are affected by public opinion, especially because the debates had just begun. Right now, while candidates are trying to win their respective party nominations, they are going to try to appeal to the opinions of Republicans and Democrats separately. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are not trying to appeal to the same base as Donald Trump and Jeb Bush. These polls are meaningful and candidates should be mindful of them, because people care about this issue. The three polls I have examined are similar in numbers, but there is a bit of disparity between the Hart Research Associates and Public Opinion Strategies and CBS News and the New York Times poll and the poll done by Quinnipiac University. The percentage of respondents saying that there should be a pathway to citizenship in the poll collaborated on by Hart and Public Opinion Strategies was 47%, but 55% in the Quinnipiac poll, and 61% in the CBS/New York Times poll for the final days of July. A 14% difference seems to be a significant difference, especially when one number is not a majority of the population. Over the time of the debate period, the numbers have stayed in the upper 50s. For that reason, I think that these can be meaningful polls that represent the population as a whole. Overall, opinion seems to tend to be more in favor of letting people stay who came here

Many political science researchers study the forces that drive the vote. One of the earliest, and most well known, books about election studies is The American Voter. Written in 1960, the book tries to explain a model that describes what drives Americans to vote the way they do. The model suggests that social factors determine ones party identification, which determines one's issue positions and evaluation of candidate's characteristics. These forces all work together to determine how one will vote. This model may or may not still hold true today, as political researchers are not in agreement as to what exactly drives the vote. One thing that does remain true, however, is that factors such as social groups, party identification, issues,

Political campaigns are very significant in American politics and elections. It is the period before the electorate makes political decisions in the form of elections. The attention of the citizens towards politics intensifies as the date of the elections draws near. The salience of voters improves as the election date draws near and could manifest in the form of increased media attention. Political discussions, campaign interest, strength of the intention to vote, and knowledge about the candidates are other manifestations of increased salience of voters. Another indication of improved intensity is the effort put by the candidates and their political parties in the campaigns. Parties increase their efforts in the

The two major political parties, organizations made up of those seeking control of Government offices through elections, often clash due to each party’s different political ideology, its views and opinions of public policy. Despite Hillary Clinton’s best efforts to appeal to all Americans, in which she did accomplished with the popular vote, Donald Trump had won the Presidency through the Electoral College, an American institution that cast votes for the United States President that are usually representative of a state’s overall vote. Clinton lost consistently blue states such as Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, indicating a shift with both liberal and moderate party identification, how an individual’s is loyalty to or identifies with a political party. This election serves as a perfect example of the Rational Choice Theory, a theory used frequently in political science to explain how an individual votes based on their own best interest. In the case of this election, Donald Trump won the presidency as his party platform focused primarily on economic stimulation which appealed most Americans interests, unlike Clinton’s whose objectives and principles as President were focused on cultural issues. The Democratic party can come back from this election if it decides to recognize the public interest of the people to rebuild the economy and not ignore the working

The first form of nonverbal communication that plays a significant role in influencing the voting behavior is the physical appearance of candidates. The analytical study by Olivola and Todorov (2010) states that today’s politics have become so extremely intricate and incomprehensible that it is almost impossible for voters to genuinely agree to every aspect of the candidates’ views. For instance, it is highly conceivable for voters to agree on international and security issues with one candidate and agree on economic issues with the other candidate at the same time. Hence, the number of the voters who are unfamiliar with the intricacies of political issues and unmotivated to study candidates’ policy as a criterion for making their choice has increased (Olivola & Todorov, 2010). In addition, according to Olivola and Todorov (2010), the field of cognitive psychology indicates that people’s minds tend to simplify decision making process by relying on simple rules when they are confronted with too much information. As a result, instead of behaving as rational actors and voting reasonably as they are believed to do so, voters are hugely influenced by and unconsciously opt for irrelevant cues, which in this case, the candidates’ physical appearance.