Non-Traditional Candidates and Negative Campaigning in American Presidential Elections
Loading...
Authors
Lutz, Kelsey
Issue Date
2013
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
This paper will compare the campaigns of three American presidential elections
over the course of the 20th and 21st centuries; namely, Franklin Delano Roosevelt's four
consecutive campaigns beginning in 1932, John F. Kennedy in 1960, and Barack Obama
in 2008. Each of these men broke the mold for traditional presidential candidates - an
able-bodied, white Protestant man- for a different reason. FDR's disability, Kennedy's
religion, and Obama' s race made them the first of their kind to be elected president,
which inspired negative attacks and advertising from a host of opponents. Each of these
three candidates chose to respond in a different way to such attacks, given their particular
circumstances and campaign liability.
There are a number of factors in a campaign which could influence a candidate's
decision to respond to negative attacks from opponents and voters, including social
perception, media and voter information, number of undecided voters, and the
candidate's level of support and standing in the race. These factors will be examined in
the context of these three historical elections, and then applied to three new types of nontraditional
candidates - Hispanic, female, and homosexual- who could potentially run
for the presidency in future elections, given current political and social trends.
Description
55 p.
Citation
Publisher
License
U.S. copyright laws protect this material. Commercial use or distribution of this material is not permitted without prior written permission of the copyright holder. All rights reserved.