Electoral victors are those who excel at projecting imagery and symbolism but not necessarily those who offer substantive expertise political experience or pragmatism Iyengar Candidate Image ID: 530104
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Candidate ImageSlide2
“Electoral victors are those who excel at projecting imagery and symbolism, but not necessarily those who offer substantive expertise, political experience or pragmatism.”
IyengarSlide3Slide4
Candidate Image
Kenneth Hacker, an expert on political images, considers a candidate image as a sort of total impression of a candidate held by a member of the voting public
Includes issue beliefs as well as personality considerationsSlide5
How important is image?
Experts debate the importance of pure image vis-à-vis other vote influences such as political party and issue stands, but most acknowledge that it is a significant factor in vote choice
Greater for the less-well-informedSlide6
“Some critics of American electoral politics have lamented the fact that images have supplanted the meaningful discussion of issues in contemporary campaigns. Image-dominated campaigns are faulted for oversimplifying issues and confusing voters.”
HollihanSlide7
“Studies have consistently demonstrated that candidate images are very important predictors of how people will vote”
Hollihan
“The fact that voters now are more likely to make their own choices between candidates has been cited as at least partly to blame for the increasing dependence on image-dominated political campaigns.”
Hollihan
, p. 83Slide8
Why is political image so important? First, it has been found that voters react better to personal perceptions of the candidates than to objective reality (Sears, 1983). According to Sears (1969), "persons represent unusually simple stimuli, easily cognized and retained“ (p.364). Second, perceptions of candidate traits provide individuals with a good way to organize all the daily information that becomes available about political issues (Kinder, 1986). Kinder also suggested that personality traits are seen as stable over time, and by ascribing traits to their political leaders, individuals have some basis for gauging the reaction of their political leadership to future demands of their office.Slide9
GallupSlide10Slide11Slide12Slide13Slide14
What are the components of the image?Slide15
Image dimensions
Homophily
Traits
Honesty
Intelligence
Independence
“With regard to trust and integrity, research suggests that voters are very sensitive to a candidate’s physical appearance.”
Hollihan
, p. 94
Self-deprecating humor appreciated by voters
Non-verbal behaviors
Sensitive to candidate ageSlide16
Charisma
“ability to project confidence, enthusiasm, optimism, goal-orientation, inspirational leadership, and compassion”
Hollihan
, p. 98
“may also be one who conveys a warm and friendly image, show seems genuine and personable, who is comfortable speaking, and who has the capacity to speak from his or her heart—or at least has can make us so believe”
Must be appropriate to the situationSlide17
Political image
Party identification
Ideological commitments
Issue positions
Linkages to other political figures or interest groups
Personal image
Age
Intellectual abilities
Speaking styleSlide18
Source: August 28, 2008 Obama Still Lags McCain as Leader, Commander in Chief: Obama’s strengths lie in domestic, softer issues
by Frank Newport available at: http://www.gallup.com/poll/109891/Obama-Still-Lags-McCain-Leader-Commander-Chief.aspxSlide19Slide20
Source: July 16, 2010 Palin's 76% Favorable Among Republicans Tops Others in GOP: Former Alaska governor's image more mixed among all Americans
by Frank NewportSlide21Slide22Slide23Slide24Slide25Slide26
National
Adults
Republicans/
Lean
Republican
Democrats/
Lean
Democratic
%
%
%
Personal Qualities
Honesty/straightforward
33
30
34
Integrity
10
13
7
Good moral character/family values
5
8
2
Intelligence
5
4
6
Honorable
4
5
3
Trustworthy
4
4
5
Christian
3
6
*
Common sense
1
1
1
Charisma
*
*
1
Total percentage of all mentions
(Note: Results could overlap among some respondents.)
65
71
59
Slide27Slide28
Voters are especially interested in the issue of trust and the honesty of the candidateSlide29Slide30Slide31Slide32Slide33Slide34Slide35Slide36
How are images developed?
Image consultants
Advertising
Pro-candidate
Anti-opposition
Careful staging of public presentation
Events (may or may not be under candidate control)
News coverage
Popular culture
Comedians, etc.Slide37
“In plying their craft, political consultants (whom we refer to as image handlers) take a rather formulaic approach to crafting candidate images. Typically, polling is used to identify salient issues on the minds of voters. The next step is to assess which of these issues play to their client’s advantage. A campaign strategy is then devised to prime the audience on those issues, deploying images, symbols, and phrases that will connect the candidate to those issues in the minds of voters”
Grabe
and
BucySlide38
“While
critics of modern campaigns sometimes
argue that
candidate images are molded like clay,
candidates generally
do not conjure an image from scratch.
Rather, candidates
present themselves selectively to
emphasize their
personal strengths and deemphasize
their weaknesses.”
Steger, Candidate ImageSlide39
Republican RebrandingSlide40
Managing the visuals
Candidate appearance
Hair
Clothes
Environment
Where photo-ops occur
Who the candidate is with
SymbolsSlide41
Candidate Image
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=6057246&page=1Slide42
Three major types of candidate image bites
Statesman
Populist
Sure Loser
Grabe
and
BucySlide43Slide44Slide45Slide46Slide47Slide48Slide49
Media choices
Variety shows
Placing spots
Exclusives to journalistsSlide50Slide51Slide52Slide53
Content emphases
Leadership qualities
Military record
Business experience
Steadfastness
Relationship with current government
Maverick
Outsider
Successful legislator, etc.Slide54
Rick Snyder for Michigan
Super Bowl AdSlide55
Content emphases
Compassion/care for the weak
Regardless of actual record
Honesty/Integrity
ScandalsSlide56
“Candidates
also try to frame their political role
characteristics favorably
. For example, experience in
government may
be portrayed as proof of a candidate’s
competence, while
a lack of experience may be portrayed
as having
new ideas or as uncorrupted by the system
.”
StegerSlide57
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/24026-campaign-essentials-image-management-video.htmSlide58Slide59
Obama image development
Top 10 Campaign PromisesSlide60Slide61Slide62
Trying to influence your opponent’s image
Baucus ad against Mike Taylor, 2002 Senatorial raceSlide63
Anti-Democratic Party ad by National Republican
Campaign CommitteeSlide64
Image construction may vary by mediumSlide65
“As an audiovisual medium that literally traffics in images, television is ideally suited to convey character information. Indeed, most news stories may be too short to do anything
except present information about the candidate’s character and personality
(Graber, 1987). “
Grabe
and
BucySlide66
LewisSlide67
“Images
are formed, reinforced, or modified as voters encounter new bits of information that interact with their existing information base
. . . a
given bit of information may have different meaning to different people, so a candidate’s image is largely in the eye of the beholder
.”
StegerSlide68
“most
voters’ images of candidates are
affected by
their party loyalties, ideological orientations,
and deep-seated
political attitudes relevant to the
processing of
information about candidates. The
electorate tends
to see or invent what is favorable and
distort or
deny much of what is unfavorable, with respect
to these
prior beliefs
.”
StegerSlide69
“In
the absence of information about the candidates, as occurs in low visibility elections, partisan voters may construct images of candidates consistent with their expectations and preferences
.”
Steger