Abstract
This longitudinal study of fifteen presidential campaigns used lexical analysis to isolate differences between winning and losing commercials. The availability sample of 1,227 commercials from 1952–2008 campaigns was analyzed with Diction 5.0 lexical analysis software. Results indicated striking lexical differences between the commercials of presidential winners versus losers. Winners were significantly higher on positive terms and other-directed references to groups, while losers were higher on self-related I/me/my words.
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