Preference Poll Stories in the Last 2 Weeks of Campaign 2000

Abstract

If campaigns are times for political representatives to consult or negotiate with a citizenry, then the ways that a public conversation is conducted matters. In this study, all campaign stories in two national newspapers over the last 2 weeks of Campaign 2000 were sorted by dominant issues and examined for public commentary on those issues. About 60% of the stories featured discussion of candidate images (within narratives of campaigning depicted as races, military campaigns, or dramatic performances), with the remaining stories featuring 1 of 18 other issues. Issues as such all but disappeared. The candidate image stories were dominated by statistical representations of binary—yes-no, good-bad—opinions. The study concludes that the public had no real voice in the electoral conversation at the end of Campaign 2000, only serving to indicate who was ahead or behind. A citizenry can have little effect on political agenda if depicted only as a numerical mass.

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