Gender and Candidate Communication: An Analysis of Televised Ads in the 2020 US Senate Races

Recent studies of the content of television ads of female versus male political candidates have shown that women and men are increasingly similar in their communication styles and strategies, with some notable exceptions. However, few studies examining gender and political ad content have focused exclusively on US Senate races, considered the influence of the candidates’ political party, or compared the messages of women running against female versus male opponents. This study examines 236 political ads—160 from mixed-gender and 76 from female–female—U.S. Senate races in 2020 for their verbal and visual content. Results show gendered and partisan differences in the issues emphasized and the tone used. Candidates were similar in the images emphasized. Female candidates were more balanced between formal and casual attire compared to previous election cycles. And candidates in mixed-gender races used different strategies than those in female–female contests as to the issues and political actors mentioned.

Pandering Politicians? Targeted Economic Development Incentives and Voter Response

Empirical evidence largely suggests that the billions of dollars state and local governments spend on targeted economic development incentive (EDI) programs are typically ineffective at stimulating broad economic activity. The continued use of EDIs by public officials has thus led scholars to investigate the role of these programs in political pandering. In this paper, we explore the relationship between EDIs and gubernatorial elections in Arkansas. Specifically, we investigate whether officials strategically allocate discretionary EDIs based on previous county-level gubernatorial election outcomes. We subsequently explore the impact of discretionary EDIs on an incumbent party’s bid for gubernatorial reelection at the county level. Our results largely suggest that public officials do not allocate EDIs based on previous election outcomes. Moreover, our results indicate that voters are unresponsive to both the quantity and magnitude of credit claiming messages.

Gerak Politik Uang Pada Pilkada Dumai 2020: Sarana Pendidikan Politik Yang Baik Bagi Mahasiswa Di Perguruan Tinggi Se-Kota Dumai

This research was a qualitative descriptive study, aimed at describing the application of political education received by students on campus to money politics that occurred in the Election of Mayor and Deputy Mayor at Dumai in 2020. The instrument used a questionnaire developing Guttman scale. Its population was all students who are enrolled in universities throughout Dumai. Respondents amounted to 760 people who were selected by incidental sampling technique. Some findings of this study were: (1) A total of 74.7% of students in the city of Dumai knew about money politics; (2) 71.7% of respondents knww the purpose of money politics; (3) 79.9% of respondents had experience of receiving money from the success team and/or pairs of candidates; (4) A total of 78.9% of student respondents already knew the impact of money politics on the 2020 Dumai Mayor and Deputy Mayor Election; (5) A total of 73.6% of respondents had experience receiving money from unscrupulous pairs of candidates during the previous election when the previous election was held; (5) Questions regarding the prediction of money politics during the election was 85% of respondents answered that it would not happen; (6) The statement of the respondent's attitude when receiving money and choosing the candidate pair in question would be made by 22.1% of the respondents; and (7) A total of 71.4% of respondents did not accept the money given and did not choose the candidate pair. In conclusion, from the percentage of the data above, realization of political education received by the students in some campus in Dumai with the attitude towards the rejection of money politics in happened in Dumai on 2020 Mayor election is better.

Tactical Voting and Electoral Pacts in the 2019 UK General Election

The Brexit cleavage continued to define politics in the 2019 general election. This posed a challenge for parties and voters on each side of the debate: how to coordinate in favour of their side in each seat. In this note, I examine the extent to which party (electoral pacts) and voter (tactical voting) coordination affected the outcome of the 2019 general election. On the voter side, I find that tactical voting was only slightly more prevalent than in previous election cycles. On the party side, I find that neither the Unite to Remain pact nor the Brexit Party’s withdrawal of candidates against incumbent Conservatives noticeably affected the results. Holding the structure of preferences in 2019 constant, Labour would probably have won a handful of additional seats in England and Wales (three on average but only one clear gain) by joining the Unite to Remain pact. The effect of the pact is limited because Labour successfully won over many Remain supporters from the other parties during the campaign. This meant that voters of the other Remain parties were only modestly more likely to prefer Labour over the Conservatives by the end of the campaign, and the pool of minor party voters was generally small in Labour’s target seats. The Liberal Democrats would have received around eight additional seats if Labour had joined the pact (again holding preferences constant).

Power-Sharing in Divided Societies

Peacebuilding—in one form or another—is likely to persist for the duration of a liberal world order. Power-sharing models of government as a contribution to peacemaking have dominated constitutional design since the mid-1990s, but they remain highly contested. Consociational power-sharing offers a means to move beyond armed conflict acceptable to political actors, for whom a return to hegemonic majoritarianism is unacceptable and a hope of conflict transformation too distant. Critics claim that it locks in divided identities and prevents other options emerging. This chapter argues that the causal impact of power-sharing in cases such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, compared to other features of these conflicts, such as excessive canonization, is not clear-cut and that in other situations, such as Northern Ireland, the outcomes are more positive. Basing each cycle of power-sharing executive formation on the results of the previous election rather than historic balances of power or population can facilitate internal electoral competition within political communities and the emergence of new parties outside of the traditional political divisions. It could also facilitate other forms of representation, such as gender quotas. The external influences on power-sharing and international intervention are not well explored, and engaging with the “local turn” in peacemaking could allow a better understanding of the positive and negative factors in the interaction between external support and local agency.

Living Together, Voting Together: Voters Moving in Together Before an Election Have Higher Turnout

Scholars have long noted that couples are more likely to vote compared to individuals who live alone, and that partners' turnout behavior is strongly correlated. This study examines a large administrative dataset containing detailed information about validated turnout and the timing of individuals moving in together, and finds evidence of a substantial and robust increase in turnout after cohabitation. The study exploits the fact that two-voter households moving in together right before an election are comparable to those moving in together right after the election. Depending on the model specification, turnout increases by 3.5 to 10.6 percentage points in the months after taking up cohabitation. Voters are mobilized regardless of their own and their cohabitant's turnout behavior in a previous election. The results are robust to several robustness checks, including benchmarking with singles who move to mitigate the cost of moving in the analysis. The results highlight the importance of social norms and the household's essential role as a proximate social network that increases turnout.

Mobiliseringsvalget 2019: Hadde kommunereformen noen betydning?

Voter turnout in the Norwegian local election of 2019 rose from the previous election by about 5 percentage points, to 65 percent, which is higher than any other local election since 1991. Another unusual feature of the 2019 election was the implementation of a much-debated and politically contentious municipal amalgamation reform. Voters in municipalities that were to be merged on January 1st, 2020, voted in the new municipal councils in the election. Consequently, a key question in this chapter is whether or not a link exists between the rise in turnout and the municipal reform. We start, however, by looking at turnout more broadly. Who votes in local elections, and who abstains? By using sampled panel data from the Norwegian electoral roll that covers five consecutive elections, we find that habitual voters tend to be highly educated and middle-aged. The permanent abstainers constitute 9 percent of the electorate, and they often have immigrant backgrounds and no higher education. The analyses of the municipal reform reveal no overall significant effect on turnout. Small municipalities that were merged saw some rise in turnout, relative to larger merged municipalities. Indications are that the political issues that dominated the campaign had a mobilizing effect. Two large-scale government initiated get-out-the-vote efforts likely played some role in getting people to the polls.

Illiberalism, revolution and the 2016 Macedonian elections

To what extent are social movements capable of steering voters’ choices in illiberal societies? This paper departs from a corruption-based conception of illiberalism, whereby ‘the misuse of public office for private gain’ in the shape of bribery, nepotism, clientelism and misuse of public party funding, presents itself as one of the foremost components of illiberal rule. Through the empirical exploration of Macedonia’s 2016 Colourful Revolution, this paper aims to examine the potential of Anti-Corruption Movements (ACMs) in enhancing the electoral punishment of illiberal elites. Drawing from original survey data and a set of semi-structured interviews with representatives of the Colourful Revolution and members of the Macedonian civil society, this paper aims at shedding light upon the effects of ACMs on electoral behaviour and, ultimately, on the political potential of ACMs in the reversal of a country’s illiberal course. The study finds strong indicators pointing to the Colourful Revolution’s encouraging role in stoking increasingly negative perceptions towards Macedonia’s illiberal government ahead of the 2016 election, but primarily among voters that had not supported the main government party in the previous election.

A CRITICAL REVIEW OF GOVERNANCE IN THE DIGITAL ERA: A DEVELOPING NATION’S PERSPECTIVE

‗The best argument against democracy is a five- minute conversation with the average voter‘ is a famous quote by Winston Churchill. The statement also indicates the success or failure in any form of government depends primarily on voters and not on parties or politicians. The sustenance of a government in a democratic set up and in the age of anti-incumbency is viable only if it has the mandate. The current government in the territory of India is thriving despite a strong effort by the opposition to come together and stand against the government. The last two Lok Sabha elections held in 2014 and 2019 in India has been exemplary from the perspective that it has largely been Bhartiya Janata Party versus all other political parties, unlike the previous election where there has been contest between ruling and opposition parties. This paper aims to review the functioning of the incumbent government in last five years from manifesto till its implementation. The paper also aims to review the different policies launched by the government and their outcome. The paper will also examine how the government took some landmark decisions that witnessed mass protest and may prove fatal in times to come.

How biased media generate support for the ruling authorities: Causal mediation analysis of evidence from Russia

If a medium has a monopoly in covering political news and daily distorts the news in favor of the ruling autocrat, how large will the persuasion effect be? Through which channels will such persuasion operate most? Working with a representative sample of the Russian population, I use a causal mediation analysis to explore whether (1) frequency of exposure and/or (2) reliance on biased reporting mediate the link between how people voted for incumbent elites and how they evaluate these elites in the present. Perceiving explicitly biased information as credible transmits a large and robust effect from voting to evaluation, while frequent exposure to this information produces an insignificant mediating effect. Another important finding is that the effect of perceived news credibility overrides the effect of previous electoral support: Accepting state propaganda as credible information converts people into regime supporters even if they did not support these elites at previous election.