William L Benoit
Biographic Data
| ID | 103471 |
|---|---|
| NAME | William L Benoit |
| GIVEN NAMES | William L |
| FAMILY NAME | Benoit |
| SIGNATURE | BENOIT W L |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Missouri |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 48 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 525 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 48 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1997 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 10 |
Presidential Television Advertisements: Testing Functional Theory in Mexico and the United States
This study employs the Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse to analyze the 2006 and 2012 presidential elections in Mexico. In the United States, the theory has been satisfactorily validated; nevertheless, in order to investigate the extent to which it can be generalized in other national contexts, this theory tested with Mexican television spots. Four out of seven subsamples were consistent with the predictions. The variations were m…
Persuasive attack on President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin
The U.S. House of Representatives impeached American President Donald Trump for a second time in 2021. Trump was accused of fomenting an insurrection against the democracy he was sworn to protect, one of the most serious accusations that could be made against a president. In 2022 President Joe Biden, and his Secretary of State Antony Blinken, declared that Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ga…
A Functional Analysis of 2016 Nonpresidential Campaign Tweets
A functional analysis was conducted on 2016 candidate tweets in races for governor, U.S. Senate, and U.S. House. The 2016 presidential campaign left no doubt that Twitter has come of age as a campaign medium. Because this form of communication is relatively new, we know relatively little about it. Tweets and retweets combined used acclaims more than attacks. Tweets used more acclaims, and fewer attacks, than retweets. Incumbent candidates acclaim…
The Rise and Fall of Mass Communication
"Mass communication theories were largely built when we had mass media audiences. The number of television, print, film or other forms of media audiences were largely finite, concentrating people on many of the same core content offerings, whether that be the nightly news or a popular television show. What happens when those audiences splinter? The Rise and Fall of Mass Communication surveys the aftermath of exactly that, noting that very few mod…
Presidential Campaigns in the Age of Social Media: Clinton and Trump
This book offers content analyses of candidate campaign messages from the primary and the general election. The chapters examine both new (Twitter, Facebook) and traditional (TV spots, debates, speeches) media employed in this contest. This allows comparison of campaign phases (primary versus general), candidates (Republican primary and Democratic primary candidates; general election candidates), and message forms. The results are compared with d…
A Functional Analysis of Visual and Verbal Symbols in Presidential Campaign Posters, 1828–2012
This study analyzes American presidential campaign posters from 1828 to 2012 using the Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse. It advances the theory by investigating a hitherto unexplored medium, posters; more importantly, visual elements (e.g., the bald eagle) were analyzed along with words. Acclaims were more frequent than attacks; no difference occurred in the functions of early and recent posters. Visual symbols used acclaims even…
Production of Image Repair Strategies in the 2016 American Presidential Debates
Les débats politiques électoraux (débats des Démocrates et des Républicains aux primaires, débats présidentiels, débat vice présidentiel) intervenus lors de la campagne présidentielle des États-Unis en 2016 furent des événements importants, regardés par des millions d'électeurs. Lors de la première étape des élections présidentielles qui voit des prétendants s'affronter pour être nommés candidats par leurs propres partis politiques respectifs (Dé…
A Functional Analysis of 2016 Direct Mail Advertising in Ohio
Few studies examine the content of political direct mail advertising (pamphlets, brochures) despite the fact that this campaign medium remains a popular means of reaching voters. This study reports a functional analysis of 68 direct mail advertisements employed in Ohio in 2016. These messages acclaimed more than they attacked; no defenses occurred in this sample. The topics of the statements in these texts were about evenly split between policy (…
A Functional Analysis of 2012 Presidential Primary TV Spots
In 2012, only the GOP had a contested primary. As of March 2012 none of the four candidates remaining in the race (Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum) had secured enough delegates to claim the nomination, indicating that this primary season would drag on (McCain clinched the 2008 Republican nomination on March 4, 2008). This protracted primary meant that the Republicans had to devote most of their efforts to their immediate o…
A Functional Analysis of the 2007 and 2012 French Presidential Debates
In 2007, Nicolas Sarkozy ran against Segolene Royal for President of France; Sarkozy won. In 2012, Sarkozy was challenged by Francois Hollande; Hollande won. This study applies the Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse to the French Presidential debates of 2007 and 2012. In 2007, candidates acclaimed more than they attacked and attacked more than they defended, as predicted. However, in 2012 acclaims were not used more than attacks pr…
Decision 2012: Presidential Election Analysis from the CM Café
The Communication Monographs Cafe opened its doors for the fifth time on November 6, 2012. In the previous openings of the cafe (social justice and public scholarship in Volume 78, Issue 2; communi
Political TV Advertising and Debates
This essay begins by justifying the importance of two particular forms of political campaign communication, TV advertising spots and debates. Advertising spots and debates are two especially prominent forms of messaging in political campaigns and there is extensive research evidence regarding their role and the outcomes associated with each. Thus we sketch the nature of these key campaign message forms, focusing on the two dimensions of functions…
"Staying "On Message: Consistency in Content of Presidential Primary Campaign Messages Across Media
This study investigates the extent to which candidates in the 2008 presidential primary campaign adhered to the convention wisdom that candidates should stay "on message." Content analysis investigated multiple media (announcement speeches, TV spots, radio spots, debates, candidate webpages, and candidate MySpace/Facebook pages) from 9 Democratic and 12 Republican candidates. Four variables were investigated: functions, topics, party issue emphas…
The Third Agenda in U.S. Presidential Debates: Debate Watch and Viewer Reactions, 1996–2004 by Diana B. Carlin, Kelly M. McDonald, Tammy Vigil, and Susan Buehler
Journal Article The Third Agenda in U.S. Presidential Debates: Debate Watch and Viewer Reactions, 1996–2004 by Diana B. Carlin, Kelly M. McDonald, Tammy Vigil, and Susan Buehler Get access The Third Agenda in U.S. Presidential Debates: Debate Watch and Viewer Reactions, 1996–2004by Diana B. Carlin, Kelly M. McDonald, Tammy Vigil, and Susan Buehler. Westport, CT, Praeger Publishers, 2008. 283pp. $64.95. William L. Benoit William L. Benoit Ohio Uni…
A Functional Analysis of the 2008 Vice Presidential Debate: Biden Versus Palin
Senator John McCain's selection of Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008 came as a surprise to many. Senators Joe Biden, John McCain, and Barack Obama had been in the public eye since before 2007 as they campaigned for the presidency—and Biden and McCain had been in the spotlight in earlier presidential campaigns. Thus, of the four running mates for the two major political parties, Palin was the least well-known. The selection of Palin…
Análisis funcional de los debates en las elecciones generales de 2008
Esta investigación utiliza la Teoría Funcional para analizar los dos debates que enfrentaron a los dos principales líderes políticos en las elecciones generales de 2008. Los candidatos utilizaron más el ataque que el planteamiento de propuestas o las manifestaciones afirmativas. A pesar de ello, se defendieron menos de los ataques recibidos. Los temas sobre política son más comunes que los que se refieren al candidato o al partido. Quien opta a l…
A Theory of Political Campaign Media Connectedness
The study of political mass communication information outlet effects has been dominated by two types of studies, those which focus on a single outlet and those which look at the comparative influence of multiple outlets. The current study seeks to advance a third study type by offering a theory of political campaign media connectedness. Three axioms are offered in this work. In addition, a series of hypotheses involving five political communicati…
Functional Federalism in Political Campaign Debates
Which factors influence the topics addressed by candidates in political debates? This study investigates the question of how the level of elective office influences the content of political debates by employing computer content analysis to investigate the issue emphasis of political campaign debates. Paul Peterson's (1995, The price of federalism. Washington, DC: CQ Press) theory of functional federalism recognizes that political offices at diffe…
Empirical Intersections in Communication Research: Replication, Multiple Quantitative Methods, and Bridging the Quantitative-Qualitative Divide
This article concerns ways research can be related: intersections between studies. By “studies,” we do not necessarily mean two publications—although they could be published separately—but two distinct empirical investigations into human communication (we do not use “empirical” as synonymous with “quantitative” analysis and interpretation of texts—observations in qualitative and critical research are also forms of empirical inquiry). We assume th…
Communication in Political Campaigns: Functional Analysis of Election Messages
The nature of political campaigns -- The functional theory of political campaign discourse -- The role of medium in campaign discourse -- The role of source in campaign discourse -- The role of context in political campaign discourse -- Non-presidential, non-U.S. campaign discourse -- News coverage of political campaign -- Voters : campaign messages and election outcome -- Conclusion.
Communication Forms as Predictors of Issue Knowledge in Presidential Campaigns: A Meta-Analytic Assessment
Theory and past research argue for the importance of understanding the effect of various campaign communication forms (e.g., newspapers, television news, radio, debates, candidate advertising, and personal discussions) on levels of issue knowledge (IK). This study used a meta-analytic approach to examine how well these forms predict IK. The aggregate analysis indicates that any of these forms can affect IK but that the different forms are not equ…
Retrospective Versus Prospective Statements and Outcome of Presidential Elections
This study investigates retrospective and prospective voting from a communication perspective, looking to see whether there is relationship between election outcome and the relative emphasis U.S. presidential candidates place on retrospective (past) versus prospective (future) utterances in campaign messages. The sample includes a variety of presidential campaign messages (acceptance addresses, primary and general television spots, debates, direc…
Functional Theory and Political Discourse: Televised Debates in Israel and the United States
This study applied functional theory, developed for political campaigns in the United States, to six televised debates in Israel and compared debates in both countries. In both countries, acclaims were the most common function, followed by attacks and then defenses. Policy was addressed more often than character. Incumbent candidates in both countries acclaimed significantly more and attacked less than the challengers. Incumbents used past deeds …
Illinois U.S. Senate Debates: Keyes Versus Obama
This study content analyzed the 2004 Illinois U.S. Senate debates between Alan Keyes and Barak Obama. As is the case in presidential debates, acclaims (positive statements) were more common than attacks, which in turn were employed more frequently than defenses. Also consistent with presidential debates, these candidates discussed policy more than character. Both general goals and ideals were employed more often to acclaim than to attack. When th…
Political Television Advertising in Campaign 2000
Most studies of political advertising focus on presidential television spots. However, far more commercials are broadcast for other races. This study applies the functional theory of political campaign discourse to 584 television spots from presidential, gubernatorial, senatorial, house, and local races in the 2000 election. The most common functions were acclaims (67%) followed by attacks (32%) and defenses (1%). When non-presidential ads are ex…
Issue Ownership and Presidential Campaigning, 1952-2000
JOHN R. PETROCIK is a professor and chair of the Political Science Department at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He works in the area of elections, public opinion, and political parties. This paper is adapted from a book-length project on issue-ownership in American national politics. WILLIAM L. BENOIT is a professor of communication at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He has written five books on presidential campaigns, including Campai…
A meta-analysis of the effects of viewing U.S. presidential debates
Televised debates are now an expected component of the American presidential election campaign. A meta-analysis was used to cumulate the research on the effects of watching presidential debates. General campaign debates increase issue knowledge and issue salience (the number of issues a voter uses to evaluate candidates) and can change preference for candidates' issue stands. Debates can have an agenda-setting effect. Debates can alter perception…
The role of communication in the formation of an issue-based citizenry
Citizens can gain a better understanding of the important issues of a campaign and where candidates stand on those issues from three primary sources: direct candidate-to-citizen mass media messages (e.g., political advertisements, debates), news (e.g., newspapers, television news), or discussion with fellow citizens. The current study conducted a secondary analysis of 1996 American National Election Study (ANES) data to replicate Brians and Watte…
The functional approach to presidential television spots: Acclaiming, attacking, defending 1952–2000
This essay applies the Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse to presidential television spots from 1952–2000. Because elections are fundamentally comparative, a choice between competing candidates, it is natural for candidates to praise their own strengths (acclaim) and to disparage their opponents’ weaknesses (attack). When subjected to such attacks, candidates may also choose to refute those accusations (defend). These three functio…
Beyond learning and persona: Extending the scope of presidential debate effects
Research on the effects of watching presidential debates tends to show that these messages can foster learning about the candidates' issue positions and influence voters' impressions of the candidates. This study uses a pretest/posttest design to assess more subtle effects of watching a 2000 presidential debate on attitudes and vote intention. Leadership and overall policy stance became more important factors in vote choice after watching the deb…
Acclaiming, Attacking, and Defending: A Functional Analysis of U.S. Nominating Convention Keynote Speeches
This article applies the functional theory of campaign rhetoric to nominating convention keynote speeches. Because an election is a choice between competing candidates, campaign discourse inherently involves acclaiming (praising) the candidate and party, attacking the opposing candidate and party, and defending against such attacks from the opposition. We apply this perspective to Republican and Democratic nomination convention keynote speeches f…
Functions of the great debates: Acclaims, attacks, and defenses in the 1960 presidential debates
This study applies the functional theory of political campaign rhetoric to investigate the classic 1960 Nixon‐Kennedy debates. All three kinds of utterances appeared in these debates (acclaims were most common at 49%, attacks followed at 39%, and defenses comprised 12% of their themes). The candidate from the incumbent party, Vice President Nixon, acclaimed more, whereas the challenger, Senator Kennedy, attacked, more. The candidate who was the t…
Functional Theory and Political Discourse: Televised Debates in Israel and the United States
This study applied functional theory, developed for political campaigns in the United States, to six televised debates in Israel and compared debates in both countries. In both countries, acclaims were the most common function, followed by attacks and then defenses. Policy was addressed more often than character. Incumbent candidates in both countries acclaimed significantly more and attacked less than the challengers. Incumbents used past deeds …
Empirical Intersections in Communication Research: Replication, Multiple Quantitative Methods, and Bridging the Quantitative-Qualitative Divide
This article concerns ways research can be related: intersections between studies. By “studies,” we do not necessarily mean two publications—although they could be published separately—but two distinct empirical investigations into human communication (we do not use “empirical” as synonymous with “quantitative” analysis and interpretation of texts—observations in qualitative and critical research are also forms of empirical inquiry). We assume th…
A Theory of Political Campaign Media Connectedness
The study of political mass communication information outlet effects has been dominated by two types of studies, those which focus on a single outlet and those which look at the comparative influence of multiple outlets. The current study seeks to advance a third study type by offering a theory of political campaign media connectedness. Three axioms are offered in this work. In addition, a series of hypotheses involving five political communicati…
A functional analysis of congressional television spots, 1986–2000
Despite the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on television advertising in congressional campaigns, relatively little research has examined the content purchased by those advertising dollars. This study applied the Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse to a purposive sample of television spots from U.S. House and Senate races from 1986 to 2000. Acclaims (self‐praise: 64%) outnumbered both attacks (criticisms: 35.5%) and defenses (…
Political Television Advertising in Campaign 2000
Most studies of political advertising focus on presidential television spots. However, far more commercials are broadcast for other races. This study applies the functional theory of political campaign discourse to 584 television spots from presidential, gubernatorial, senatorial, house, and local races in the 2000 election. The most common functions were acclaims (67%) followed by attacks (32%) and defenses (1%). When non-presidential ads are ex…
The Rise and Fall of Mass Communication
"Mass communication theories were largely built when we had mass media audiences. The number of television, print, film or other forms of media audiences were largely finite, concentrating people on many of the same core content offerings, whether that be the nightly news or a popular television show. What happens when those audiences splinter? The Rise and Fall of Mass Communication surveys the aftermath of exactly that, noting that very few mod…
Production of Image Repair Strategies in the 2016 American Presidential Debates
Les débats politiques électoraux (débats des Démocrates et des Républicains aux primaires, débats présidentiels, débat vice présidentiel) intervenus lors de la campagne présidentielle des États-Unis en 2016 furent des événements importants, regardés par des millions d'électeurs. Lors de la première étape des élections présidentielles qui voit des prétendants s'affronter pour être nommés candidats par leurs propres partis politiques respectifs (Dé…
Presidential Campaigns and Democracy
Every 4 years presidential candidates devote months and hundreds of millions of dollars campaigning for the highest office in the land. Some question whether these presidential campaigns actually make a difference in election outcomes. In 2000, the Bush and Gore campaigns provided a golden opportunity to empirically assess campaign effects because both candidates focused their campaigns on a set of "battleground" states. Data from the 2000 Nation…
Testing the mediating role of cognitive responses in the elaboration likelihood model
Cognitive response theories such as the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) have been criticized for lacking appropriate and rigorous empirical testing. As a result, the ELM in particular has little support for the proposed causal mechanism, cognitive responses, as a mediating variable between messages and attitude change. Using argument quality and source credibility manipulations, this investigation examines several causal models to assess the r…
Communication Forms as Predictors of Issue Knowledge in Presidential Campaigns: A Meta-Analytic Assessment
Theory and past research argue for the importance of understanding the effect of various campaign communication forms (e.g., newspapers, television news, radio, debates, candidate advertising, and personal discussions) on levels of issue knowledge (IK). This study used a meta-analytic approach to examine how well these forms predict IK. The aggregate analysis indicates that any of these forms can affect IK but that the different forms are not equ…
Beyond genre theory: The genesis of rhetorical action
In this essay, I contend that traditional genre theory has an important inherent limitation: It assumes that a single controlling characteristic (often, but not exclusively, situation) is responsible for (and explains) the production of a genre of rhetoric. In contrast, the theory of the Genesis of Rhetorical Action holds that four Burkean ratios—scene‐act, purpose‐act, rhetor‐act, and agency‐act—can be employed to explain how rhetorical discours…
Acclaiming, attacking, and defending in presidential nominating acceptance addresses, 1960–1996
Political campaign discourse is instrumental, designed to persuade voters to perceive the candidate as preferable to the opponent. To appear preferable, candidates may acclaim (engage in self‐praise) to make themselves appear better, they may attack the opposition to make opponents seem worse, or they may defend against attacks from the opposition to restore lost desirability. We analyze these three basic functions in presidential nomination acce…
A Functional Analysis of 2012 Presidential Primary TV Spots
In 2012, only the GOP had a contested primary. As of March 2012 none of the four candidates remaining in the race (Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum) had secured enough delegates to claim the nomination, indicating that this primary season would drag on (McCain clinched the 2008 Republican nomination on March 4, 2008). This protracted primary meant that the Republicans had to devote most of their efforts to their immediate o…
"Staying "On Message: Consistency in Content of Presidential Primary Campaign Messages Across Media
This study investigates the extent to which candidates in the 2008 presidential primary campaign adhered to the convention wisdom that candidates should stay "on message." Content analysis investigated multiple media (announcement speeches, TV spots, radio spots, debates, candidate webpages, and candidate MySpace/Facebook pages) from 9 Democratic and 12 Republican candidates. Four variables were investigated: functions, topics, party issue emphas…
A Functional Analysis of Visual and Verbal Symbols in Presidential Campaign Posters, 1828–2012
This study analyzes American presidential campaign posters from 1828 to 2012 using the Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse. It advances the theory by investigating a hitherto unexplored medium, posters; more importantly, visual elements (e.g., the bald eagle) were analyzed along with words. Acclaims were more frequent than attacks; no difference occurred in the functions of early and recent posters. Visual symbols used acclaims even…
Functional Federalism in Political Campaign Debates
Which factors influence the topics addressed by candidates in political debates? This study investigates the question of how the level of elective office influences the content of political debates by employing computer content analysis to investigate the issue emphasis of political campaign debates. Paul Peterson's (1995, The price of federalism. Washington, DC: CQ Press) theory of functional federalism recognizes that political offices at diffe…
A Functional Analysis of the 2000 Taiwanese and US Presidential Spots
This study analyzes the 2000 presidential television advertisements in Taiwan and the United States. Contrary to the common cultural assumption that Asian messages are more positive than those in the US, there is no significant difference of acclaims (positive utterances) and attacks (negative utterances) between the two countries. It appears that the cultural influence on utterance functions was overridden by situational factors in campaign comm…
A functional analysis of presidential television spots: A comparison of Korean and American ads
This study applies the Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse to the television spots from the 2002 Korean presidential campaign. TV ads appear to have become an institutionalized component of the Korean presidential campaign; as yet no study has examined the most recent Korean presidential ads. Like American candidates, Korean presidential candidates rely more on acclaims (positive utterances) than attacks (negative statements). They …
Image repair discourse and crisis communication
This article describes the theory of image restoration discourse as an approach for understanding corporate crisis situations. This theory can be used by practitioners to help design messages during crises and by critics or educators to critically evaluate messages produced during crises. I begin by describing and illustrating the basic concepts in this theory. Then, I offer suggestions for crisis communication based on this body of theory and re…
Seeing Spots: A Functional Analysis of Presidential Television Advertisements, 1952-1996
Benoit provides a comprehensive analysis of presidential television spots from every campaign that used this important message form, from the 1952 campaign through the last national campaign in 1996. More than 1,600 presidential spots are analyzed, from both primary and general campaigns. Republican, Democratic, and third party candidate advertisements are analyzed. He uses the Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse, analyzing themes i…
Functions of the great debates: Acclaims, attacks, and defenses in the 1960 presidential debates
This study applies the functional theory of political campaign rhetoric to investigate the classic 1960 Nixon‐Kennedy debates. All three kinds of utterances appeared in these debates (acclaims were most common at 49%, attacks followed at 39%, and defenses comprised 12% of their themes). The candidate from the incumbent party, Vice President Nixon, acclaimed more, whereas the challenger, Senator Kennedy, attacked, more. The candidate who was the t…
Acclaiming, attacking, and defending in presidential nominating acceptance addresses, 1960–1996
Political campaign discourse is instrumental, designed to persuade voters to perceive the candidate as preferable to the opponent. To appear preferable, candidates may acclaim (engage in self‐praise) to make themselves appear better, they may attack the opposition to make opponents seem worse, or they may defend against attacks from the opposition to restore lost desirability. We analyze these three basic functions in presidential nomination acce…
Beyond genre theory: The genesis of rhetorical action
In this essay, I contend that traditional genre theory has an important inherent limitation: It assumes that a single controlling characteristic (often, but not exclusively, situation) is responsible for (and explains) the production of a genre of rhetoric. In contrast, the theory of the Genesis of Rhetorical Action holds that four Burkean ratios—scene‐act, purpose‐act, rhetor‐act, and agency‐act—can be employed to explain how rhetorical discours…
Acclaiming, Attacking, and Defending: A Functional Analysis of U.S. Nominating Convention Keynote Speeches
This article applies the functional theory of campaign rhetoric to nominating convention keynote speeches. Because an election is a choice between competing candidates, campaign discourse inherently involves acclaiming (praising) the candidate and party, attacking the opposing candidate and party, and defending against such attacks from the opposition. We apply this perspective to Republican and Democratic nomination convention keynote speeches f…
Beyond learning and persona: Extending the scope of presidential debate effects
Research on the effects of watching presidential debates tends to show that these messages can foster learning about the candidates' issue positions and influence voters' impressions of the candidates. This study uses a pretest/posttest design to assess more subtle effects of watching a 2000 presidential debate on attitudes and vote intention. Leadership and overall policy stance became more important factors in vote choice after watching the deb…
Testing the mediating role of cognitive responses in the elaboration likelihood model
Cognitive response theories such as the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) have been criticized for lacking appropriate and rigorous empirical testing. As a result, the ELM in particular has little support for the proposed causal mechanism, cognitive responses, as a mediating variable between messages and attitude change. Using argument quality and source credibility manipulations, this investigation examines several causal models to assess the r…
A functional analysis of congressional television spots, 1986–2000
Despite the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on television advertising in congressional campaigns, relatively little research has examined the content purchased by those advertising dollars. This study applied the Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse to a purposive sample of television spots from U.S. House and Senate races from 1986 to 2000. Acclaims (self‐praise: 64%) outnumbered both attacks (criticisms: 35.5%) and defenses (…
The functional approach to presidential television spots: Acclaiming, attacking, defending 1952–2000
This essay applies the Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse to presidential television spots from 1952–2000. Because elections are fundamentally comparative, a choice between competing candidates, it is natural for candidates to praise their own strengths (acclaim) and to disparage their opponents’ weaknesses (attack). When subjected to such attacks, candidates may also choose to refute those accusations (defend). These three functio…
The Role of Significant Policy Issues in the 2000 Presidential Primaries
This study examines candidate discourse across four media types: television spots, radio spots, debates, and Web sites in the 2000 presidential primaries. The purpose of the analysis was to determine whether there is a relationship between candidate discourse on certain issues and the level of importance assigned to those issues by voters. The analysis indicates that some candidates are more effective than are others at addressing the issues most…
Effects of Watching Primary Debates in the 2000 U.S. Presidential Campaign
This essay reports the results of 2 studies measuring the effects of watching U.S. presidential primary debates. Using a pretest-posttest design, participants watched either a Republican (October 22, 1999) or a Democratic (October 27, 1999) New Hampshire primary debate. Those who watched each debate learned more about the candidates' policies, formed evaluations of candidates who were less well-known, and changed their evaluations of better known…
The role of communication in the formation of an issue-based citizenry
Citizens can gain a better understanding of the important issues of a campaign and where candidates stand on those issues from three primary sources: direct candidate-to-citizen mass media messages (e.g., political advertisements, debates), news (e.g., newspapers, television news), or discussion with fellow citizens. The current study conducted a secondary analysis of 1996 American National Election Study (ANES) data to replicate Brians and Watte…
Presidential television advertising and public policy priorities, 1952–2000
Do presidential candidates adapt their spot messages to the public's interests? This study conducts a computer content analysis of the texts of presidential television spots from 1952–2000. Public opinion poll data on the most important issues for voters, in each campaign, are used to structure the searches. The extent to which candidate spot messages conform to the public issue agenda is determined. Democrats’ and challengers’ spot messages are …
A meta-analysis of the effects of viewing U.S. presidential debates
Televised debates are now an expected component of the American presidential election campaign. A meta-analysis was used to cumulate the research on the effects of watching presidential debates. General campaign debates increase issue knowledge and issue salience (the number of issues a voter uses to evaluate candidates) and can change preference for candidates' issue stands. Debates can have an agenda-setting effect. Debates can alter perception…
Campaign 2000: A Functional Analysis of Presidential Campaign Discourse (Communication, Media, and Politics)
Issue Ownership and Presidential Campaigning, 1952-2000
JOHN R. PETROCIK is a professor and chair of the Political Science Department at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He works in the area of elections, public opinion, and political parties. This paper is adapted from a book-length project on issue-ownership in American national politics. WILLIAM L. BENOIT is a professor of communication at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He has written five books on presidential campaigns, including Campai…
Presidential Debate Watching, Issue Knowledge, Character Evaluation, and Vote Choice
This study employs NES (National Election Survey) data from several presidential elections to investigate the effects of presidential debate watching on voters' issue knowledge, character evaluation, and vote choice. Debates can instill issue knowledge; however, voters are less likely to learn about incumbent presidents seeking re-election after a four-year term in office than about other candidates. Debates are also capable of changing voters' i…
Introduction to the Special Issue: The State of the Art in Communication Theory and Research, Part 1
William L. Benoit, Michael Pfau; Introduction to the Special Issue: The State of the Art in Communication Theory and Research, Part 1, Journal of Communica
Presidential Debate Watching, Issue Knowledge, Character Evaluation, and Vote Choice
This study employs NES (National Election Survey) data from several presidential elections to investigate the effects of presidential debate watching on voters' issue knowledge, character evaluation, and vote choice. Debates can instill issue knowledge; however, voters are less likely to learn about incumbent presidents seeking re-election after a four-year term in office than about other candidates. Debates are also capable of changing voters' i…
Presidential Campaigns and Democracy
Every 4 years presidential candidates devote months and hundreds of millions of dollars campaigning for the highest office in the land. Some question whether these presidential campaigns actually make a difference in election outcomes. In 2000, the Bush and Gore campaigns provided a golden opportunity to empirically assess campaign effects because both candidates focused their campaigns on a set of "battleground" states. Data from the 2000 Nation…
A Functional Analysis of the 2000 Taiwanese and US Presidential Spots
This study analyzes the 2000 presidential television advertisements in Taiwan and the United States. Contrary to the common cultural assumption that Asian messages are more positive than those in the US, there is no significant difference of acclaims (positive utterances) and attacks (negative utterances) between the two countries. It appears that the cultural influence on utterance functions was overridden by situational factors in campaign comm…
A functional analysis of presidential television spots: A comparison of Korean and American ads
This study applies the Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse to the television spots from the 2002 Korean presidential campaign. TV ads appear to have become an institutionalized component of the Korean presidential campaign; as yet no study has examined the most recent Korean presidential ads. Like American candidates, Korean presidential candidates rely more on acclaims (positive utterances) than attacks (negative statements). They …
Illinois U.S. Senate Debates: Keyes Versus Obama
This study content analyzed the 2004 Illinois U.S. Senate debates between Alan Keyes and Barak Obama. As is the case in presidential debates, acclaims (positive statements) were more common than attacks, which in turn were employed more frequently than defenses. Also consistent with presidential debates, these candidates discussed policy more than character. Both general goals and ideals were employed more often to acclaim than to attack. When th…
Political Television Advertising in Campaign 2000
Most studies of political advertising focus on presidential television spots. However, far more commercials are broadcast for other races. This study applies the functional theory of political campaign discourse to 584 television spots from presidential, gubernatorial, senatorial, house, and local races in the 2000 election. The most common functions were acclaims (67%) followed by attacks (32%) and defenses (1%). When non-presidential ads are ex…
Political science (43 works) · Politics (40 works) · Law (32 works) · Presidential system (32 works) · Social Media and Politics (31 works) · Sociology (28 works) · Media Studies and Communication (23 works) · Electoral Systems and Political Participation (19 works) · Law (19 works) · Advertising (17 works)