Election campaigns

Campaign functions

Campaign finances

Campaigning in the mass media

Micro-campaigning

Media coverage

Campaign effects

Normative campaign functionsPolitical campaigns

ElectionsReferendums

Role of campaignsInformation

Citizen involvementEnabling informed choice

CompetitionEnsuring political pluralismAvoiding structural bias

Democracy Watch (International) defines fair democratic elections as, "Elections in which great care is taken to prevent any explicit or hidden structural bias towards any one candidate, aside from those beneficial biases that naturally result from an electorate that is equally well informed about the various assets and liabilities of each candidate"

Scheduling

Set election datesE.g. US, Germany, France etc.Argued to ensure fairness, predictabilityDanger of lengthening campaigns

Maximum termE.g. UK, IrelandGovernment (prime minister, taoiseach) holds power to dissolve

parliament and call electionsResults in shorter (official) campaignsCreates strategic advantage for incumbentsSince campaign date is widely anticipated, campaigns from

government and opposition tend to start ahead of dissolution

Campaign financesPolitical parties appear to be essential for functioning

of democraciesMediate and arbitrate between civil society and government

institutionsProviding representation and consideration of group interests

“Parties aggregate a plurality of interests into a reasonable number of political alternatives or policy options, and thus channel conflicts between government and opposition” (IDEA 2003 report on “Funding of Parties and Election Campaigns”)

Formulation of policies, alternativesPolitical mobilizationRecruiting political personnel for public officeGerman basic law even contains an article defining the

constitutional role of political parties Article 21 [Political parties]

(1) Political parties shall participate in the formation of the political will of the people. They may be freely established. Their internal organization must conform to democratic principles. They must publicly account for their assets and for the sources and use of their funds.

Public funding

Britain exceptional in its general refusal to publicly fund parties (apart from “Policy Development Fund” distributing £2 million between registered parties)

Arguments against public subsidiesPossibly undermining independence of parties (cartellisation?)Preventing change (e.g. entry into political market)Unpopular with ordinary citizens

Goals of public fundingPromoting equality of access to resourcesIf parties are fulfilling (implicitly or explictly) constitutional

functions in terms of mobilization, linking civil society and state, recruitment, policy-making, they should be given the resources to do so

Private funding

Membership fees Donations Defines fundraising as a key objective of campaigning Possibly translating inequalities in wealth and/or organization

into inequality of access to decision-makers Traditional core contributors to UK political parties

MembersTrade unionsBusiness corporations

Sweden and US at opposite ends of continuumbetween virtually no control over use of funds (Sweden, largely

publicly funded) and close monitoring and setting of spending limits (US)

Presidential candidates in US receiving full public fundingOutruling any private fundraising (but only after nomination)

Campaigning in the mass media

ManifestoPurposes

Adressing the media/Launching the campaignAdressing the public

Positioning the partyCommunicating policy proposalsSetting the agenda

Adressing potential political alliesBaseline for post-election bargaining in government formation process

Press conferences and press releasesAiming to set the agenda for the dayMedia management

Campaign stuntsPhoto ops

Negative campaigninghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLWbS5dkotQ

Strategy and micro-campaigning

Private pollsFocus groups

Testing effectiveness of campaign messages/images

Database marketingVoter targetingDirect campaigning (mail, phone)CanvassingCustomization of campaign messages

Media coverage

Types of campaign storiesHorserace Campaign activitiesIssue featuresEditorial opinion

Types of campaign coverageProviding a platform (stop-watch, sacerdotal)Critical, non-partisan scrutinyPartisan mediaInstitutional bias

Campaign effects

Conditional effects Increasing with volatility from decreasing party ID, class voting etc.Depending on intensity, closeness of competition (battleground states in US,

marginal seats in UK)Those most likely to be affected least likely to be attentive

Agenda-setting and priming Issue voting and salience

Resources Indeterminate findings about whether advantage in resources translates into

vote gains (potentially spurious: incumbents have more funds!)Some findings from US suggesting that employment of campaign experts

(pollsters, advisers, strategists) does produce competitive advantages Temporary effects

“convention bounce”Debate effectsPublic opinion moves during election campaign; unclear how much of

movement is durable response to campaign dynamics, how much error term “Bringing public opinion into equilibrium” (Holbrook, Do Campaigns Matter, 1996)