Research Topic

Campaign and election dynamics have been at the forefront of political science research for decades.  With new polling information and advancements in research technology (most notably internet and computer resources), campaigns and elections will continue to be critiqued and examined through various lenses.  In this blog, we will be exploring a specific area of campaign politics: campaign advertising and messaging.  This blog will follow me (a student at USC) as I conduct research on this topic and develop arguments regarding the effects (both positive and negative) of campaign advertising and messaging on voter turnout and attitude.  Furthermore, I will broaden the scope of my research to include other academic disciplines: including psychology and sociology.  I will explore these other disciplines in the hope that they will shed more, or at least different, light on my topic.

In order to fully investigate the topic of campaign messaging and advertising it is critical to breakdown my research into several components.  First, my research will look into the overall effects of campaign advertising on vote share.  Questions I hope to answer will include: Does campaign advertising increase or decrease voter turnout?  Has campaign advertising increased over time?  Second, the effect of advertising on candidate quality and quantity will be examined.  Has the cost of political advertising increased over time and if so, has it eliminated or discouraged potential candidates from running?  Do some candidates have a competitive advantage given the current state of campaign advertising?  Finally, what difference (if any) exists in the effects of positive and negative campaign messaging?  This final area will include both voter turnout and voter attitude.  Does positive or negative advertising increase or decrease voter turnout?  Which one is more effective?  Does advertising affect voter attitude toward a candidate?  Does it change their vote?

I will hope to answer these questions and fully expect that my research will present several others.  In my next post I hope to have made at least some progress on my initial research.  Expect a summary of that preliminary research later this week.