The Role of Candidate Traits in Campaigns

We examine how candidates shape citizens’ impressions of their personal traits during U.S. Senate campaigns. We look at the personality traits emphasized by candidates in their controlled communications and in news coverage of their campaigns. We couple information about campaign messages with a unique survey dataset allowing us to examine voters’ understanding and evaluations of the candidates’ personalities. We find that messages from the news media influence people’s willingness to rate the candidates on trait dimensions. In addition, negative trait messages emanating from challengers and the press shape citizens’ impressions of incumbents. In contrast, voters’ evaluations of challengers are unmoved by campaign messages, irrespective of the source or tone of the communications. Finally, we find citizens rely heavily on traits when evaluating competing candidates in U.S. Senate campaigns, even controlling for voters’ party, ideological, and issue preferences.

[1]  Steven J. Rosenstone,et al.  Mobilization, participation, and democracy in America , 1993 .

[2]  G. Jacobson,et al.  Strategy and choice in congressional elections , 1981 .

[3]  Charles S. Taber,et al.  Information processing and public opinion , 2007 .

[4]  S. Chaiken,et al.  The psychology of attitudes. , 1993 .

[5]  Susan T. Fiske,et al.  Attention and weight in person perception: The impact of negative and extreme behavior. , 1980 .

[6]  C. Funk.  The impact of scandal on candidate evaluations: An experimental test of the role of candidate traits , 1996 .

[7]  John P. Robinson,et al.  Television News and the Informed Public: An Information-Processing Approach. , 1990 .

[8]  S. Keeter,et al.  What Americans Know about Politics and Why It Matters , 1996 .

[9]  Richard F. Fenno.  Senators On The Campaign Trail , 1996 .

[10]  John G. Geer,et al.  In Defense of Negativity: Attack Ads in Presidential Campaigns , 2006 .

[11]  P. Converse.  The Nature of Belief Systems in Mass Publics , 2004 .

[12]  Kathleen M. McGraw,et al.  An Impression-Driven Model of Candidate Evaluation , 1989, American Political Science Review.

[13]  Larry M. Bartels.  The Impact of Candidate Traits in American Presidential Elections , 2002 .

[14]  Kim Fridkin Kahn,et al.  Senate Elections and Campaign Intensity. , 1992 .

[15]  Gerald C. Wright,et al.  Candidates and Policy in United States Senate Elections , 1986, American Political Science Review.

[16]  J. Zaller,et al.  The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion. , 1992 .

[17]  Bradford S. Jones,et al.  Modeling Multilevel Data Structures , 2002 .

[18]  E. E. Jones,et al.  From Acts To Dispositions The Attribution Process In Person Perception1 , 1965 .

[19]  Gregory B. Markus,et al.  Political Attitudes during an Election Year: A Report on the 1980 NES Panel Study , 1982, American Political Science Review.

[20]  M. Lodge,et al.  The Responsive Voter: Campaign Information and the Dynamics of Candidate Evaluation , 1995, American Political Science Review.

[21]  Richard F. Fenno.  Home Style : House Members in Their Districts , 1978 .

[22]  Richard R. Lau,et al.  Negativity in political perception , 1982 .

[23]  Kim L. Fridkin,et al.  Do Negative Messages Work? , 2004 .

[24]  G. Jacobson,et al.  The Politics of Congressional Elections , 1983 .

[25]  Philip E. Converse,et al.  A Dynamic Simultaneous Equation Model of Electoral Choice , 1979, American Political Science Review.

[26]  Paul S. Herrnson,et al.  Congressional Elections: Campaigning at Home and in Washington , 1995 .

[27]  Air wars : television advertising in election campaigns, 1952-2008 , 2005 .

[28]  S. Abrams,et al.  The 2000 US Presidential Election: Can Retrospective Voting Be Saved? , 2003, British Journal of Political Science.

[29]  Patrick J. Kenney,et al.  The Spectacle of U.S. Senate Campaigns , 1999 .