Candidatecentered Campaigns Political Messages Winning Personalities And Personal Appeals

"Modern campaign messages do not typically focus on a candidate's issue stances and policy proposals. Instead, campaigns use personal stories about candidates reveal greater narratives. Campaigns tell stories about their candidates to make their candidate more credible and likeable, essential first steps toward winning votes. Most studies of campaign advertising by political scientists have focused on the issue agendas of political campaigns, sharing the assumption that campaigns are about what candidates will do. As a result, political science has not sufficiently examined the role of candidate-centered characteristics in the campaign message development process. Candidate Centered Campaigns shows how voters assess candidates as they would a new neighbor or co-worker to determine much they like and trust this person. Only after establishing this trust will voters consider what the candidate's policy plans are, making candidate-based campaigns key to winning the vote. "--