Striking While the Iron Is Hot: Exploring the Impact of Issue Ownership and Issue Salience on Donations to Political Organizations in the 2020 US Presidential Election

Abstract

This study integrates the perspectives of issue niche theory and issue ownership theory to examine how variations in issue salience affect the resources available to political organizations affiliated with different parties. Analyzing a database with millions of donors’ political donation records, our time series analysis reveals a nuanced interplay: When some issues associated with Democrats assume the spotlight, there is a discernible increase in left-leaning donations. Simultaneously, when other Democrats issue raises to prominence, there is a notable suppression of right-leaning contributions. These findings underline the persuasive force of issue ownership for each party, which either bolsters fundraising for affiliated political organizations or obstructs donations to opposing groups. Furthermore, we observe that competence-related issues, such as COVID-19 and the economy and inflation, exert a substantial influence on political contributions among both left- and right-leaning donors. Notably, competence issues demonstrate a more pronounced influence on donor behavior compared to associative issues. Overall, our study suggests a refined issue niche theory tailored to the political context, where issue niches are shaped not only by issue salience but also by the precise issue ownership type.

Keywords

political donation issue salience issue ownership

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Aalberg

Jenssen

A. T.

2007. “Do television debates in multiparty systems affect viewers? A quasi-experimental study with first-time voters.” Scandinavian Political Studies 30(1):115–35.

Aldrich

H. E.

Ruef

2006. Organizations evolving. 2nd Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Ansolabehere

Iyengar

1994. “Riding the Wave and Claiming Ownership Over Issues: The Joint Effects of Advertising and News Coverage in Campaigns.” Public Opinion Quarterly 58(3):335–57.

Arbour

2014. “Issue Frame Ownership: The Partisan Roots of Campaign Rhetoric.” Political Communication 31(4):604–27.

Andrews

K. T.

Edwards

2004. “Advocacy Organizations in the US Political Process.” Annual Review of Sociology 30:479–506.

Bartley

2007. “How Foundations Shape Social Movements: The Construction of an Organizational Field and the Rise of Forest Certification.” Social Problems 54(3):229–55.

Bélanger

É.

Meguid

B. M.

2008. “Issue Salience, Issue Ownership, and Issue-Based Vote Choice.” Electoral Studies 27(3):477–91.

Budge

Farlie

D. J.

1983. Explaining and Predicting Elections. London: Allen & Unwin.

Clifford

2014. “Linking Issue Stances and Trait Inferences: A Theory of Moral Exemplification.” The Journal of Politics 76(3):698–710.

10.

Cole

H. J.

Hawthorne

2013. “Issue Ownership Trends and Tensions in 2008: Obama, the Transformative Democrat?” Argumentation and Advocacy 50(2):72–88.

11.

Dahlberg

Martinsson

2015. “Changing Issue Ownership Through Policy Communication.” West European Politics 38(4):817–38.

12.

Dawood

2015. “Campaign Finance and American Democracy.” Annual Review of Political Science 18:329–48.

13.

Ellis

W. C.

Ripberger

J. T.

Swearingen

2017. “Public Attention and Head-to-Head Campaign Fundraising: An Examination of Us Senate Elections.” American Review of Politics 36(1):30–53.

14.

Egan

P. J.

2013. Partisan Priorities: How Issue Ownership Drives and Distorts American Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

15.

Farzanegan

M. R.

Zamani

2022. “The Effect of Corruption on Internal Conflict in Iran Using Newspaper Coverage.” Defence and Peace Economics 35(1):24–43.

16.

Fraussen

Halpin

D. R.

2018. “Political Parties and Interest Organizations at the Crossroads: Perspectives on the Transformation of Political Organizations.” Political Studies Review 16(1):25–37.

17.

Gilens

2012. Affluence and Influence: Economic Inequality and Political Power in America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

18.

Gilmore

Rowling

C. M.

2019. “Partisan Patriotism in the American Presidency: American Exceptionalism, Issue Ownership, and the Age of Trump.” Mass Communication and Society 22(3):389–416.

19.

Guardian. 2022. Billions in ‘dark money’ is influencing U.S. politics. We need disclosure laws. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/29/billions-in-dark-money-is-influencing-us-politics-we-need-disclosure-laws

20.

Hayes

2008. “Party Reputations, Journalistic Expectations: How Issue Ownership Influences Election News.” Political Communication 25(4):377–400.

21.

Hansen

M. A.

Dolan

2020. “Voter Sex, Party, and Gender-Salient Issues: Attitudes About Sexual Harassment and Brett Kavanaugh in the 2018 Elections.” American Politics Research 48(5):532–42.

22.

Hatemi-J

2014. “Asymmetric Generalized Impulse Responses with an Application in Finance.” Economic Modelling 36:18–22.

23.

Hill

S. J.

2022. “A Theory of Intensity, Electoral Competition, and Costly Political Action.” The Journal of Politics 84(1):291–303.

24.

Iyengar

Kinder

1987. News that Matters. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

25.

Kiousis

Strömbäck

McDevitt

2015. “Influence of Issue Decision Salience on Vote Choice: Linking Agenda Setting, Priming, and Issue Ownership.” International Journal of Communication 9(1):3347–68.

26.

Kleinnijenhuis

Walter

A. S.

2014. “News, Discussion, and Associative Issue Ownership: Instability at the Micro Level Versus Stability at the Macro Level.” International Journal of Press/Politics 19(2):226–45.

27.

Lachat

2014. “Issue Ownership and the Vote: The Effects of Associative and Competence Ownership on Issue Voting.” Swiss Political Science Review 20:727–40.

28.

Shin

Sun

Kim

H. M.

Yang

2021. Organizational Sensemaking in Tough Times: The Ecology of NGOs’ COVID-19 Issue Discourse Communities on Social Media.” Computers in Human Behavior 122:106838.

29.

Lim

D. J.

Kim

M. S.

2022. “Measuring Dynamic Efficiency with Variable Time Lag Effects.” Omega: International Journal of Management Science 108:102578.

30.

Lim

J. S.

Young

2021. “Effects of Issue Ownership, Perceived Fit, and Authenticity in Corporate Social Advocacy on Corporate Reputation.” Public Relations Review 47(4):102071.

31.

Liu

Van de Walle

2023. “A Comparative Analysis of Resource Networks of Intermediary Support Organizations for Nonprofit Development: Evidence from Incubators for Nonprofit Organizations.” Nonprofit Management and Leadership 34(2):371–91.

32.

Luo

Ngai

E. W.

Tian

2022. “Effects of Visit Behavior on Online Store Sales Performance: Personal Computer (PC) Versus Mobile Channels.” Internet Research 32(3):728–67.

33.

Marquis

Tresch

2022. “The Accessibility and Electoral Consequences of Issue Competence Perceptions: Evidence from the Swiss 2019 Election.” Swiss Political Science Review 28(2):254–76.

34.

Open Secrets. 2020. Most expensive ever: 2020 election cost $14.4 billion. https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2021/02/2020-cycle-cost-14p4-billion-doubling-16/#:~:text=Political%20spending%20in%20the%202020,breaking%202016%20presidential%20election%20cycle.

35.

Pacheco

D. F.

York

J. G.

Hargrave

T. J.

2014. “The Coevolution of Industries, Social Movements, and Institutions: Wind Power in the United States.” Organization Science 25(6):1609–32.

36.

Petrocik

J. R

. 1989. “The Theory of Issue Ownership: Issues, Agendas, and Electoral Coalitions in the 1988 Elections.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Atlanta, Georgia, August 31–September 3.

37.

Petrocik

J. R.

1996. “Issue Ownership in Presidential Elections, with a 1980 Case Study.” American Journal of Political Science 40:825–50.

38.

Petrocik

J. R.

Benoit

W. L.

Hansen

G. J.

2003. “Issue Ownership and Presidential Campaigning, 1952–2000.” Political Science Quarterly 118:599–626.

39.

Pew Research Center. 2020. Election 2020: Voters are highly engaged, but nearly half expect to have difficulties voting. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2020/08/13/election-2020-voters-are-highly-engage

40.

Scheufele

D. A.

Tewksbury

2007. “Framing, Agenda Setting, and Priming: The Evolution of Three Media Effects Models.” Journal of Communication 57(1):9–20.

41.

Sommerfeldt

E. J.

Saffer

A. J.

Luoma-Aho

2022. “Civil Society Networks and Malaysian Government Reform: Considering Issue Homophily in Interorganizational Relationships.” Journal of Communication 72(2):264–96.

42.

Thesen

Green-Pedersen

Mortensen

P. B.

2017. “Priming, Issue Ownership, and Party Support: The Electoral Gains of an Issue-Friendly Media Agenda.” Political Communication 34(2):282–301.

43.

Tresch

Feddersen

2019. “The (in) Stability of Voters’ Perceptions of Competence and Associative Issue Ownership: The Role of Media Campaign Coverage.” Political Communication 36(3):394–411.

44.

Tsai

J. Y.

Yuan

Coman

I. A.

2023. “Theorizing Issue-Driven Public Attention and Expectations in Audience Responses to Corporate Sociopolitical Activism: A Mixed-Method Analysis.” Public Relations Review 49(4):102353.

45.

Vliegenthart

Damstra

2019. “Parliamentary Questions, Newspaper Coverage, and Consumer Confidence in Times of Crisis: A Cross-National Comparison.” Political Communication 36(1):17–35.

46.

Vliegenthart

Lefevere

2018. “Disentangling the Direction of Causality Between Competence Issue Ownership and Party Preference.” International Journal of Public Opinion Research 30(4):663–74.

47.

Walgrave

Lefevere

Tresch

2012. “The Associative Dimension of Issue Ownership.” Public Opinion Quarterly 76(4):771–82.

48.

Walgrave

Tresch

Lefevere

2015. “The Conceptualization and Measurement of Issue Ownership.” West European Politics 38(4):778–96.

49.

Wright

J. M.

Clifford

Simas

E. N.

2022. “The Limits of Issue Ownership in a Polarized Era.” American Politics Research 50(5):694–706.

50.

Fulk

Monge

2021. “Ecological Influences on Network Tie Dissolution in the Evolution of Affiliation Networks in the International Communication Association, 2009–2015.” Human Communication Research 47(1):75–103.

51.

Yang

2020. “An Issue Niche Theory of NGOs’ Interorganizational Network Ecology.” Communication Theory 30(1):41–63.

52.

Zhen

Yan

Tang

J. L.

Nan

Yang

2023. “Social Network Dynamics, Bots, and Community-Based Online Misinformation Spread: Lessons from Anti-Refugee and COVID-19 Misinformation Cases.” The Information Society 39(1):17–34.