Communication in Political Campaigns

This book offers a comprehensive guide to political campaign communication using functional theory as a framework. An authoritative account packed with real life examples from campaigns across the globe, the book examines all of the important variables in political campaign communication. Considering campaign media – from television spots and debates to candidate webpages and direct-mail advertising – it looks closely at news coverage of campaigns, and examines the sources of campaign messages, the various ways of responding to scandal, the process of voter decision-making, and the ways in which context affects a political campaign. Chapters consider a full range of races, from presidential to congressional to gubernatorial, and look at political campaigns in the United States and many other countries including France, Israel, South Korea, and Taiwan. Communication in Political Campaigns introduces readers to both theory and research on the topic, and is an ideal text for courses on political campaigns.

This book is based on the Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse. It adopts a communication perspective to campaigns for public office. It discusses medium (e.g., speeches TV spots, debates, social media), sources of campaign messages, context (e.g., primary vs. general campaign), audience (voters and how they process messages), news coverage of election campaigns, and non-presidential and non-U.S. election messages.