...The United States elections have become awash in money. More than ever, from the presidential elections to the local elections there has been a significant quantity of undisclosed donations referred to as dark money. Dark Money describes election funds from nonprofit organizations that do not have the obligation to disclose their contributors. However, any election funding that stems from organizations who are not required to disclose their donors is considered dark money. As well these nonprofits are not allowed to be political. Although they donate a large amount to candidates, the donor groups are limited to the form of speech they can produce for a candidate. They have to create issue ads which aren’t deemed to be political since the ads...
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...target party leaders and interest groups. This is the time for the candidates to learn that a single phrase could end the campaign or guarantee a defeat. The media take much less notice of mistakes at this time than in the general election campaign. A danger not always heeded by candidates during the nomination campaign is that a candidate can move too far left or right and appear too extreme to the electorate. If a candidate tries too hard to appeal to the interests of party elites, they jeopardize their chances of winning the election. An example of this is the election of 1964 when Barry Goldwater went too far right and lost the presidential election. 2. After earning the party’s nomination, candidates embark on the general election campaign, or the phase of a political campaign aimed at winning election to office. Unlike the nomination campaign, where candidates must run against each other, during the general election campaign, candidates in partisan elections run against nominees from other political parties. All eligible voters, regardless of political party, have the opportunity to vote. For this reason, candidates are more likely to move their positions on political issues toward the ideological center. The length of the general election campaign varies from state to state. 3. Paid staff, political consultants, and volunteers work behind the scenes to support the candidate. Collectively, they plan strategy, conduct polls, write speeches, craft the campaign’s message...
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...The current Republican election has been full of twist and turns. Throughout history there has never been an election comparable to the one currently taking place. One of the major influences for this unique election is Donald Trump. Donald Trump goes against many traditional Republican candidates as he pushes the boundaries everyday concerning different policies and issues. Through his radical approaches, Donald Trump holds strong as the front-runner for the Republican party. Donald Trump will likely win the 2016 Republican presidential nomination as he leads in the polls thanks to solid funding and being his unique self. When Donald Trump announced his plan to run for President on June 26th, 2015, many americans laughed the matter...
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...Running Head: Mass Media in Elections Mass Media’s Affect on Voting Trends Arthur Gibford California State University California In today’s world, the news media reaches and affects every person in the United States. The question now is does mass media such as newspapers, television, and the internet affect the voting trends of the voters? The ownership of the media (Djankov, Nenova, McLiesh, & Shleifer, 2003), targeting specific demographics (Clinton & Lapinski, 2004), the implications of the internet (DiMaggio, Hargittai, Neuman, & Robinson, 2003) and how candidates use media (Aarts & Semetko, 2003) are all important aspects in determining whether a potential bias exists (Eveland & Shah, 2003) on the part of the news media. It is hypothesized that when the mass media displays certain biases leaning towards one party over the other, the populace tends to vote in the direction of the media. The following five scholarly literature reviews will attempt to demonstrate and support the hypothesis. According to Eveland and Shah (Eveland & Shah, 2003, p. 101)there is “a large percentage of the public (that) believes that the news media are biased, and the majority of these individuals consider the direction of bias to be against their own viewpoint”. This drives the question this paper attempts to answer. This article looks at media’s credibility and integrity in the eyes of individual people. The author’s give several hypothesis to provide multiple...
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...New World, depicting a society that is too amused by distraction to realize that they had been made powerless. Image is everything and sound bites are powerful. Unknowingly, individuals are affected by the media and are persuaded easily. We are so amused and distracted by the desire for immediate social media updates that society has lost the ability to thoughtfully partake in the educated discussion of the political candidates and their policies. Postman writes “the clearest way to see through a culture is to attend to its tools for conversation” (Postman, 1985, p.9). Television and the internet bring images through the media’s lens, not through the rational discourse of a print or oratory based culture. Political elections have simply become a battle of advertisements, in which candidates develop images meant to work in the same way that commercials do: namely, by offering an abstract image of what the public feels it lacks. Individuals will lose the ability for pure thought and discussion as the media feeds them the images and information that will dilute the true message in context and the content is lost in the spectacle of television and the...
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...political propaganda strategies to use when running for President of the United States because in today’s society, American citizens are commonly influenced by advertisements that allow a candidate to appear superior to the other. There are seven different types of propaganda: endorsement, glittering generalities, bandwagon, stacked cards, name calling, plain folks, and image molding. Propaganda is bias advertisement used to persuade the reader. Many candidates use propaganda to gain the support of citizens for any upcoming election. The goal of using political propaganda is to win an election. Walter Mondale used bandwagoning, which is convincing people to support a candidate because other people do, to show the supporters that he already had in attempt to gain new ones. His campaign manufactured buttons with sayings, such as “retirees support”, “united paperworkers for Mondale”, and “Asian...
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...POL101 Research Essay by Mallory Watters Australia’s Political institutions and practices echo that of the British Political system, specifically the Westminster system. This is a result of Australia’s values reflecting religious tolerance, freedom of speech and association, and the rule of law. Although the Australian Political system shares many similarities with The British Westminster Political system, there are number of subtle differences at the same time. Australian politics operates as a multi-party system; there are two major parties, as a result of the coalition between the Liberal Party and National Party, and the Australian Labor Party. The leader of the elected party becomes the Prime Minister, and for the party to be in power it needs to have a majority in the House of Representatives in order to make and enact policies on behalf of their party and the country. Since the advancement of technology and the availability of television and radio, the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader have been identified by the public as the leader of their parties due to fact that they are the person that the public sees the most. As a result they have been key representatives of their party in order to get their message across in the shortest possible amount of time. Due to the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader being identified as the leader the achievements and failures of their political party fall heavily upon them. Thus many political spectators are seeing...
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... The effects the media has on the President begin when the President is campaigning. The President has a staff that helps the President form an image that is appealing to the voting public. The staff works with the media to communicate the image of the Presidential hopeful to the public. The staff attempts to “ (1) control news coverage by controlling media access, setting the media’s agenda, creating pseudo events; (2) blur the distinction between news and commercials in order to increase the credibility of the commercial’s message; (3) exploit the linguistic categories reflecting criteria for newsworthiness and conventions of news presentations through which journalists view campaigns; (4) insulate the candidate from attack; and (5) enlist the help of journalists in responding to attacks” (Jamieson 229) If the staff uses the media wisely then it can help ensure that the Presidential candidate will have a good image with the public. It is difficult for candidates to travel to every city in the country so the media is the only opportunity the public has to become familiar with the candidates. The media also sees the campaign for president as an important news event drawing in an audience of people interested in the elections. In other words, the media and the candidates “need” each other. (Barber 51) During the campaign process it is vital that candidates have an attitude that is...
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...USA SECTION 1: ELECTIONS & VOTING Primaries: * Election to select a parties candidacy for president * Open primary: A primary for any registered voter, democrat or republican. E.G. Texas * Closed: A primary for democrats and a primary for Republicans. (Separate one’s) * Invisible primary: candidates try to gain support and finance in the year before the primary * Proportional primary: awarded delegates in proportion to votes they get * Winner-takes-all: Win the most votes and you take all the states delegates Advantages: * Increased level of participation from ordinary votes (30% in 2008) * Increased interest from people * Increased choice of candidates (14 in 2008) * Removing power from party bosses Disadvantages: * Turnout is usually low * Voters are usually unrepresentative of normal voters (tend to be wealthier, old and better educated) * Process is far too long and expensive (Obama in 2008 announced his running 332 before the first primary * Fails to test presidential qualities Increased importance of primaries: * Really the only route to become a parties President Caucuses: * A meeting for the selection of a candidate * Usually held in states that are geographically large but thinly populated (Iowa, North Dakota, Nevada) * Turnout is usually pretty low, and usual favour ideological candidates National party conventions: Formal functions: * Choose presidential candidate. (Need...
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...this were the case, then the top 1% of the population should not be influencing government decision based on their needs over the majority’s. Background Info: In the 2010 Supreme Court case between Citizens United and the Federal Election Commission, the court ruled in favor of Citizens United, which allowed corporations to have a 1st Amendment right to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections. With a 5-4 choice, the Supreme Court stretched out First Amendment rights to enterprises, to such an extent that companies can now utilize treasury assets to make free uses and to pay for electioneering interchanges regarding government...
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...The Effect of Campaign Finnacne on Democracy Daniel Sykes Student ID 250719824 Every election cycle, huge sums of money are spent in the promotion for campaigns to elect or re-elect candidates for public office. These contributions play a vital role in the success of election campaigns. Sources of campaign donations range from big businesses and trade unions to PACs (political action committees) such as the NRA. These groups donate to candidates in the assumption and hopes that the candidate will pursue a discourse and perhaps implement legislation that benefits the donating group. When we refer to “campaign finance”, we are of course referring to funds that are used to promote and advertise, hire advisers, pay for travel expenses, administration fees and other costs associated with running a campaign. The Presidential Election of 2008 generated one billion US dollars in campaign contributions and finance1, with this figure on the rise, many have spoken out against the propensity of election victories to be seemingly “bought” by the party who generated the most funds2. In this essay I will be discussing whether or not big money in campaign finance is a threat to democracy. It is important to consider the history of campaign finance reform and how it evolved over time, for this gives us a better perspective when reviewing our modern situation to see if democracy has lost its way. Before the 19th century, the majority...
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...intemperance of political campaigning has also drawn out a negative side, one that seeks to cast a damaging shadow on any opposition in order to attain the support of the majority. The types of political message given out by both politicians and the media vary in how they are constructed and what they intend to achieve, and despite widespread criticism surrounding its ethical fragilities, attack politics in particular have become a fundamental component of any political campaign and evidence has shown the electorate to show a greater interest in a more pessimistic tone of politics. This essay intends to address whether negative publicity in the form of attack advertising is an effective tool of electoral manipulation by evaluating its influence in engaging and mobilizing voters. Indeed, where research has shown it to be counterproductive, or to produce unintended consequences, its...
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...Baumgartner Professor of Marketing Head of the Department of Marketing *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School iii ABSTRACT Political marketing sits at the nexus of two disciplines, political science and marketing, but is not entirely accepted by either. The present research looks at the origin, development, and evolution of political marketing and examines how the adoption of a political marketing orientation is impacting the practice of political campaigns. The role of political marketing in actually changing voters’ preferences is also examined, showing that grassroots marketing efforts seem to have the greatest effect, especially with undecided voters. Finally, voter segments are derived for the last five presidential elections in the United States (1988-2004) using latent class analysis (LCA). The interpretation and implications of these segments are discussed and several avenues for future research are suggested. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................... vi...
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...Introduction to Corporate Personhood…………………………………………………………………………………..1 Overview of Citizens United v. Federal Election Committee decision………………………………………2 Background of the parties who filed the suit and reasons for doing so……………………………………4 Arguments in favor of the decision………………………………………………………………………………………….5 Arguments against the decision……………………………………………………………………………………………..X Current events related to the decision…………………………………………………………………………………….X Future outlook on the decision…………………………………………………………………………………………………X Works Cited……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Imagine a world without corporation, without structure, and without the complexity of the working world today. Some may even think of these corporations and businesses as individuals with the same rights that you and I have as human beings. Those with this frame of mind would not be too far from the truth. Our economic structure and business establishment has grown in such a way over past centuries that we depend on these conglomerates as a foundation of economic stability. In turn, they seek from us the same rights as businesses that we as individuals are granted as citizens of this great country. In the following pages, we will explore this concept further in understanding what Corporate Personhood is and discovering the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Committee, including the parties involved, reasons for the case, arguments for and against the case, how this...
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...Final Project: Democracy in America POS/110 January 9, 2010 Final Project: Democracy in America America is a moral run country from domestic politics and foreign. We have every day customs and traditions. In this class I have learned a lot about American government and how it works. I have been surprised at how much power the government has and the way the government works. There have also been a lot I have already known about the way the government works. I will discuses some of the ways they work and how I think they can improve so areas. I have found in doing this class that there are many ways I think they can improve. Consider the challenges to democracy I think the challenge that poses a particular threat to our current system of government is lack of separation. The lack of separation between parliament and the executive is a particular threat to our current system of government. According to (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2011) “Such a separation limits the possibility of arbitrary excesses by government, since the sanction of all three branches is required for the making, executing, and administering of laws”(para 1). In America the discloser of separation of powers is more a name than a description. None of these three branches of the national government are separate from one another. A crucial problem is that split power inevitably entails split accountability. No wonder then that so many difficulties in American government spring ultimately from...
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