Campaigning in America Today: The Role of Campaigns in U.S. Presidential Elections

Ilka Kreimendahl

• Publisher: GRIN Verlag
• Year: 2003
• eBook ISBN: 9783638214278
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: North American Literary Collections
• Index: Literature

Seminar paper from the year 2000 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1 (A), University of Kassel (Anglistics), course: The Making of the President 2000, language: English, abstract: There is no aspect of contemporary American politics more criticized than the modernpolitical campaign: it provides too little information for the voter, the amount of money spentis too high, there is no thoughtful discussion of issues, and campaign organizers will reach tothe very edge of acceptable practices to find some way of appealing to the voters.These are some of the elements that are responsible for the growing disgust forelection campaigns and the decline in political interest. However the question is if campaignsreally do have consequences for the election outcome or if their effect is rather limited. Thispaper will focus on the development of political campaigns, their strategy and planning, aswell as on issues and the presentation of the candidate. The composition will further have alook on the campaign and election in 1992, on the actual effects the campaign has on the voterand consequently on the election outcome. In the last two decades scholars perceived a change from old to new politics, includinga significant modification in the nature of campaigns. In the last years the traditional partyorientedpersonal campaign has been largely replaced by the so-called candidate-centered, media-oriented campaign. The basic elements of campaigns changed dramatically because ofincreased nonvoting, the growth in the power of interest groups, and the power of the media.In national elections the expansion of the mass media campaign has led to a decline in theimportance of party affiliation, while at the same time the party organizations themselvesbecame more powerful.