A brief overview of the work that I completed over the Summer of 2021. I examined star political candidates in Canada, a field in political science that has not been researched thoroughly nationally. I discuss a few of the key findings in my blog post and offer a brief overview of everything in my video.
Voters' selective perception of pol'al candidates' positions is investigated. It is hyp'ed that such a selective perception' is a means of maintaining cognitive consistency between the individual's own position on issues & his candidate preferences, ie, that it is a means of resolving inconsistent pol'al att's. The hypothesis was tested through a mail questionaire admin'ed during the 1968 presidential campaign to S's selected at random from a systematic sample of residents in San Mateo County, Calif. A multiple contingency analysis & a comparison of subgroups with the total sample were carried out. 3-way interactions found in the multiple contingency analysis combined with the signif pattern of deviations in 2 subgroups, & the general trend of deviations in the remaining 3 subgroups support the hypothesis that inconsistent act's toward candidates & issues may be resolved through selective perception of candidates' position. Future studies to confirm this further should gather data at several points in time & note shifts in perceptions of candidates' position as fairly similar to their own position, regardless of how the candidates' positions are seen in the total pop. 3 Tables. Modified HA.
Using a 3X2 experimental design, this research examines political candidate image as a function of candidate gender and involvement in a sex or financial scandal. One hundred fifty students from college classes in continuing education were given candidate descriptions that varied only by gender of candidate and involvement in a sex scandal, financial scandal, or no scandal. Respondents gave candidates involved in scandal lower character scores. Both male and female candidates received lower character scores in the presence of a financial scandal than in the presence of a sex scandal, but counter to expectations, female candidates received significantly higher character scores in the presence of a sex scandal.
The authors argue that the gender composition of party gatekeepers -- those responsible for candidate recruitment -- plays a crucial role in either encouraging or discouraging women candidates to run for office. Using an original data set that includes constituency-level information for all parties and candidates in the 2004 and 2006 Canadian national elections, the authors find support for this proposition. Women candidates are more likely to be nominated when the gatekeeper -- the local party president -- is a woman rather than a man. The results underline the importance of informal factors for understanding women's political underrepresentation. Adapted from the source document.
This article explores the reductionist approach of political ideologies as used by political candidates, which is part of the common feature of political marketing. Understanding the value or belief system which is accepted as fact or truth by the targeted group, places the candidate in a position to promote them self as a well-intentioned, committed leader who seeks to motivate the audience to action. Modern marketing of political candidates begins by understanding central concepts of ideologies. The utilization of ideologies is complex, in that there is no single concept or claim revealing surprising affinities with various images of the candidate. It also has distinctive function, by misrepresenting the totality of the ideology by forming a total belief in the candidate versus the ideology in a particular way. People must commit or surrender to the demands of the candidate, thus making it possible for the candidate to get elected. The branding of the candidate while utilizing political ideologies in part disables people from easily disregarding information perceived to be antithetical to the concepts of the ideology (Quelch, 2007).
In: Political research quarterly: PRQ ; official journal of the Western Political Science Association and other associations, Band 64, Heft 2, S. 460-471
The authors argue that the gender composition of party gatekeepers—those responsible for candidate recruitment— plays a crucial role in either encouraging or discouraging women candidates to run for office. Using an original data set that includes constituency-level information for all parties and candidates in the 2004 and 2006 Canadian national elections, the authors find support for this proposition. Women candidates are more likely to be nominated when the gatekeeper—the local party president—is a woman rather than a man. The results underline the importance of informal factors for understanding women's political underrepresentation.
In: Political research quarterly: PRQ ; official journal of Western Political Science Association, Pacific Northwest Political Science Association, Southern California Political Science Association, Northern California Political Science Association, Band 64, Heft 2, S. 460-472