CONTRIBUTOR INFLUENCE IN CONGRESS: Social Ties and PAC Effects on U.S. House Policymaking

Knowing how campaign contributors influence policymaking is important for understanding political power, but the existing literature—much of it outside sociology—has mixed findings. Using data on Political Action Committee (PAC) contributors and roll call voting in eight U.S. Houses, 1991–2006, I approach the issue using a novel, sociological approach that focuses on social ties between lawmakers and mutually shared contributors. The findings show consistent, statistically significant contributor influence via these ties in seven of the eight Houses. I discuss the implications of these findings for contributor‐lawmaker reciprocal exchange, the social embeddedness of policymaking, and political power.     

The Role of Gender in Local Campaign Financing:

Little is known about the role of gender in money politics. We examined the official campaign finance reports and election results for all local candidates in Charlotte, North Carolina, between 1975 and 1980. For candidates in 1978 and 1979, we also did a detailed study of all the contributors. Women obtain their campaign funds from somewhat different sources than men. Women collect money in smaller average amounts than men and list more of their contributors as "anonymous." Contributors to female candidates are more diverse in geographical and racial terms. Most importantly, contributing is aligned by gender: women are more likely to give to women candidates. Female candidates are able to raise and spend money for campaigns as well as men. However, women are a lot less likely to give money to campaigns than are men.     

In-migration, entrepreneurship and rural–urban interdependencies: The case of East Cleveland, North East England

In-migration is a key influence in the process of rural economic development in England, Continental Europe and the US. New arrivals are often viewed in the literature as contributors in new venture creation, as well as catalysts in enhancing rural–urban interdependencies in the countryside. This paper sets out to explore the validity of this view in the case of East Cleveland: a rural area with a tradition of mining and industry, occupying the coastal fringe of the Tees Valley city-region. In doing so, the paper compares this locality with other parts of rural England in order to draw some wider conclusions. Particular emphasis is placed on comparisons with Cumbria, where comparable data are available. The paper argues that the impact of in-migration on the conditions of supply of entrepreneurship is cumulative rather than transformational. This means that it is particularly profound in localities with strong opportunity nexus, reinforcing favourable demand side conditions. However, the ability of in-migrant entrepreneurs to influence rural–urban interdependencies in areas with weak opportunity nexus (such as East Cleveland) is modest.     

The Making of a President: How Presidential Candidates Become Who They Are in Biographical Campaign Materials

This article examines how presidential campaigns claim that candidates became who they are by looking at biographical campaign materials through the lens of biographical reasoning. Biographical reasoning is the process of connecting the experiences in someone’s life to his or her identity, often by treating those experiences as either a cause or an illustration of characteristics. An analysis of biographical reasoning in presidential campaign materials from 1952 to 2016 reveals three key themes in how campaigns portray candidates’ development: (a) Early in life, candidates mostly acquire, rather than illustrate, positive characteristics; (b) candidates mostly improve as people without major characterological setbacks, going from good to better; and (c) candidates benefit very little from economic advantages. The consistency of these themes suggests that the conventions of biographical campaign materials include specific assumptions about how presidents should become who they are, some of which help campaigns connect candidates to important American myths.     

Blinded by the Spite? Path Model of Political Attitudes,Selectivity, and Social Media

Despite fears that selective exposure and selective avoidance could deepen polarization and negatively affect the democratic process, few studies have directly studied this phenomenon. This study explores whether selective exposure and avoidance to blogs, social network sites, and Twitter directly influence confidence in Congress and the president or more indirectly through polarization. This study suggests that fears of selective exposure, selective avoidance, and polarization infecting the democratic process appear overstated. First, polarization was positively related to confidence in Congress and the president. Second, selective exposure to social media sites strengthens confidence in the president and in Congress. Twitter boosts confidence in Congress. Third, selective avoidance had a negative influence on other measures, which suggests people seek both information that challenges their views as well as ones that supports them. Finally, selective exposure and avoidance proved weak indicators of polarization. Instead, strength of partisanship is the stronger predictor of confidence in Congress and the president.     

THE DETERMINANTS OF RELATIVE POLITICAL CAMPAIGN EXPENDITURES

This paper develops and tests a model of relative political campaign spending in an election formulated within a capital theory framework. Probability of election is treated as a function of the relative political capital stocks of the candidates, and campaign expenditure is viewed as the mechanism by which candidates optimally adjust their political capital stocks. If contributors are risk-neutral, then all factors that increase a candidate's initial political capital stock tend to decrease his relative campaign expenditures, while all factors that increase the value of the office to the candidate tend to increase his relative campaign expenditures. However, if contributors are risk-averse, then the former effect is theoretically indeterminate. Empirically, a candidate is more likely to outspend his opponent if he is an incumbent, a member of the weaker political party, and the younger candidate.     

The Language of the Presidential Election Campaign in Ukraine

The objective of the article is to trace and analyze Ukrainian language use in the recent presidential election campaign, paying particular attention to lexical innovations, neologisms, and satirical allusions. These changes are presented as the continuation of a steady process of democratization or liberalization of the Ukrainian language, a phenomenon some researchers previously attributed only to Russian. The language practices of the "Kuchma-Yanukovych regime" is presented and analyzed. The view of Yushchenko by his supporters as the narodnyi kandydat/prezydent (the people’s candidate/President) finds its antipode in political neologisms coined by Yanukovych’s camp (e.g., nashysty/nashysts’kyi), which were designed to attribute fascist tendencies to Yushchenko’s bloc, Nasha Ukraina ’Our Ukraine’. The egg farce during the campaign showed the vulnerability of Yanukovych’s camp to satire.     

The Campaign of the Committee on Public Information: Its Contributions to the History and Evolution of Public Relations

The campaign of the Committee on Public Information (CPI) was an ambitious attempt by the U.S. government to influence public opinion. More importantly, the CPI contributed to the evolution of public relations through its use of basic principles of effective communication including unity of voice, message simplicity, and source credibility. The committee's campaign encouraged citizens to be stakeholders in their government and heightened their sense of community. The work of the CPI followed a period of unrest between industrialists and journalists and was an important link between the recognition of the need for public relations services and an understanding of the means through which public opinion is crystallized.     

Extreme Rhetoric in the 2004 Presidential Campaign: Images Of Geopolitical and Regional Division

This article examines the most extreme discursive elements of political advertising in the 2004 presidential campaign in Ukraine. It deals with images of hostility, expression of ethnic phobias, and stereotypical schemes that were designed as remakes of Cold War motifs. The stereotypes in the discourse of the campaign served as populist references to different geopolitical orientations of the candidates, and as a vehicle for creating the conflicting identities of "two Ukraines." The discourse of extremes is analyzed within the context of an ideological transformation in the country that was determined by clashes between democratic and neo-totalitarian ways of thinking. The special focus of this article is to portray electoral rhetoric as one of those domains in public communication in which the image of identity takes shape.     

En-gendering Civil Society and Democracy-Building: The Anti-Domestic Violence Campaign in Armenia

This article examines how women's non-governmental organizations(NGOs) were targeted as an important component of the democracybuilding and civil society promotion programs of the post-socialistperiod. In particular, it focuses on NGO organizing around theissue of domestic violence in Armenia. It argues that the framingof the problem along with the proposed solutions led to civilsociety resistance to and critique of the anti-domestic violencecampaign. It considers both the causes and the implicationsof this resistance on organizing around domestic violence aswell as the responses and adaptations of the NGOs involved inthe campaign.     

The Implications of Transitions in the Voluntary Sector for Civic Engagement: A Case Study of Association Mobilization around the 2000 Presidential Campaign

This article reviews the prominent historical changes in American associational life (increasingly diffuse organizational attachments, professionalization of the voluntary sector, and the proliferation of "mailing-list" citizen groups), and turns to cross-sectional data on contemporary voluntary associations and their activities during the key campaign events of the 2000 presidential election to evaluate the impact of these changes on associations' ability to live up to the normative visions of civic engagement. Data on 29 diverse voluntary associations were gathered through unobtrusive observations at association events on location during the two national nominating conventions and the three televised presidential debates, 61 subsequent in-depth interviews with association representatives, literature distributed at association events, and a variety of supplemental sources. This article argues that although this new terrain is marked by significant limitations (as critics have suggested), especially in terms of associations' ability to provide opportunities for members to develop civic skills, these changes in associational life also offer important opportunities, particularly in terms of contributing to a vital democratic process by promoting public political discourse. Implications for social solidarity are also addressed.     

Do Candidates Run as Women and Men or Democrats and Republicans? The Impact of Party and Sex on Issue Campaigns

Previous work on the campaigns of women and men has tried to identify whether these candidates campaign for office by focusing on or downplaying gender-stereotyped issues and personality traits. We continue that investigation with a unique data set that uses all campaign advertisements created by almost 400 candidates for Congress in 2010. In examining whether candidate sex or political party identification are the primary influences on the issues candidates present to voters, we determine that all candidates, women and men, campaign as strategic politicians, crafting campaigns around the issues of the day and adopting partisan perspectives on those issues. We find no evidence that women or men attempt to “play to” gender stereotypes in their advertisements.     

Electing Women of Color: The Role of Campaign Trainings

The increasing racial diversity of women in the United States makes the underrepresentation of women of color in politics an important area for research. To better understand the reasons for the underrepresentation of women of color and how more women of color might be elected in the future, this article presents a case study of a unique campaign training program designed for women of color. The program is the Center for American Women and Politics’ (CAWP) New Jersey Ready to Run® Diversity Initiative. Campaign trainings have proliferated in recent years and seem to play a disproportionate role in women’s election to office. By examining perceptions of the barriers facing women of color and by identifying the mechanisms by which the Diversity Initiative seeks to help women, this article sheds light on the status of women candidates of color and the role of campaign trainings more generally. For political practitioners, this article suggests the utility of creating programs for women of color.     

Unrepresentative Information: The Case of Newspaper Reporting on Campaign Finance

This article examines evidence of sampling or statistical biasin newspaper reporting on campaign finance. We compile all storiesfrom the five largest circulation newspapers in the United Statesthat mention a dollar amount for campaign expenditures, contributions,or receipts from 1996 to 2000. We compare these figures to thoserecorded by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). The averagefigures reported in newspapers exceed the figures from the FECby as much as eightfold. Press reports also focus excessivelyon corporate contributions and soft money, rather than on themore common types of donors—individual—and typesof contributions—hard money. We further find that thesebiases are reflected in public perceptions of money in elections.Survey respondents overstate the amount of money raised andthe share from different groups by roughly the amount foundin newspapers, and better-educated people (those most likelyto read newspapers) showed the greatest discrepancy betweentheir beliefs and the facts.     

Women’s work: public relations efforts of the US Children’s Bureau to reduce infant and maternal mortality, 1912–1921

This article traces the efforts of the US Children’s Bureau to reduce infant and maternal mortality, primarily through education. The Bureau developed and carried out a carefully conceived public relations campaign that spanned nearly 10 years, from 1912, when the Bureau was formed, to 1921, when the Sheppard-Towner Act was passed by Congress. The Act was the first piece of social welfare legislation passed by Congress.The Bureau’s public relations campaign was notable for its use of innovative tactics designed to increase public awareness of the problems of infant and maternal mortality and gain support for passage of legislation to address the problems. This article proposes that it was this campaign that galvanized public support for federal legislation, particularly among women. The campaign also was important because it was conceived and carried out almost entirely by women at a time when public relations as a field had not been formally defined.     

Testing the Permanence of the Permanent Campaign: An Analysis of Presidential Polling Expenditures, 1977 2002

Many presidential observers argue that the modern White Houseis the site of more-or-less permanent campaigning. In a recentPOQ piece, Murray and Howard (2002) [Public Opinion Quarterly66:527–558] explore one indicator of the "permanent campaign,"the extent to which Presidents Carter, Reagan, G.H.W. Bush,and Clinton commissioned independent opinion polls and focusgroups to assist in policymaking and political maneuvering.Murray and Howard suggest that while a sophisticated pollingoperation has been institutionalized in the White House, thereis substantial variation in how much a president uses this operation.In this article, we model presidential polling expendituresover time using monthly figures. We find that presidents donot vary significantly in the average amount spent per monthon polls. There are, however, two recurring patterns of variationwithin presidential administrations: Presidents tend to spendsignificantly more on internal polling during the most intensemonths of a presidential reelection campaign; and polling expendituresincrease over the course of each presidential term. These findingssuggest that there are common forces (e.g., elections, naturaldecline in support) that have driven all presidents since Fordto poll.     

The Future of Financing for Long-Term Care: The Own Your Future Campaign

The purpose of this study was to examine the outreach effort and impact of a joint federal-state campaign, Own Your Future, promoting awareness and planning for long-term care (LTC) in the state of Washington. The study applied survey methodology to evaluate the extent of campaign dissemination, evidence of its impact on LTC planning behaviors, and barriers to purchasing private LTC insurance. A total of 3,198 survey responses from a randomly selected community sample and a Washington State employee sample (ages 51 to 71) were analyzed. Results indicated that the impact of the campaign was limited, both with respect to awareness of the campaign itself and to initiation of LTC planning behaviors. Quantitative data revealed a high prevalence of health-related problems (e.g., obesity, diabetes), inadequate knowledge of basic LTC-related information (e.g., cost, payers), and negative attitudes toward purchasing LTC insurance among respondents. Qualitative analyses suggested that respondents perceived significant problems related to affordability and accountability within the current LTC insurance industry. These possible barriers to the purchase of LTC insurance suggest targets to be addressed by policy makers seeking to find ways to offset the public costs of LTC.     

Community Reactions to a Syphilis Prevention Campaign for Gay and Bisexual Men in Los Angeles County

“Stop the Sores” (STS), a humor-based syphilis prevention campaign, was implemented in response to increasing syphilis prevalence among gay and bisexual men in Los Angeles County. In 2004, 564 men completed surveys measuring exposure and reactions to the campaign and syphilis testing. Mean age was 39, and men of color comprised a significant proportion of the sample (46.8%). Most men reported being HIV-negative (79.3%). Overall, 7.8% of the sample reported ever having syphilis; HIV-positive men were six times more likely to report this. Over one half of the sample (58.5%) reported exposure to the campaign. Men reporting any recent unprotected anal sex were twice more likely (than those who did not) to see the campaign. Men of color were twice more likely than White men to report wanting to speak to their friends about it. Finally, 39.1% of men exposed to the campaign reported being tested for syphilis as a result. Factors related to higher likelihood to test for syphilis included HIV seropositive status, any recent unprotected anal insertive sex, recent use of methamphetamine, recent use of “poppers,” and recent use of erectile dysfunction drugs. Although STS was somewhat effective, outreach efforts to particular subgroups may need to increase.     

Time of Decision and Media Use During the Ford-Carter Campaign

This paper challenges the traditional belief that a full presidentialpolitical campaign can have only "limited effects" on voting,by identifying a group of voters who make their decisions duringthe campaign rather than either prior to or very late in thecampaign. In a panel study of Wisconsin voters in the 1976 election,40 percent were Campaign Deciders. These voters were low inpartisanship, but paid close attention to the campaign and theFord-Carter debates, and voted in accordance with campaign-specificperceptions. By contrast, both Pre-campaign Deciders and Last-minuteDeciders voted mainly on the basis of party identification.     

Microblogging-Based Civic Participation on Environment in China: A Case Study of the PM 2.5 Campaign

Poor air quality has been affecting the Chinese people for many years due to the country’s speedy industrialization and urbanization. However, very few initiatives had been taken by civil society until 2011. The air pollution campaign between October 2011 and March 2012 initiated on a Chinese microblogging website, mobilized millions of citizens and effected policy change. It is often seen as a milestone in the chronology of public participation in China. Using process tracing, participant observations, framing analysis and in-depth interviews, the article analyses this campaign by revealing its major actors and frames mobilizing issue entrepreneurs and environmental publics. Our analysis generates two findings: first, microblogging platforms can greatly expand the networks of Chinese environmental activists by involving public figures and governmental agencies; second, the frame which links air pollution to health and appreciates governmental efforts is critical to the success of civic participation in China’s environmental governance.