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Electing a President : The Markle Commission Research on Campaign '88 / Bruce Buchanan.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublisher: Austin : University of Texas Press, [2021]Copyright date: ©1991Description: 1 online resource (252 p.)Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780292768475
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 324.973/0927 20
LOC classification:
  • JK526 1988h
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources:
Contents:
Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- FOREWORD -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- 1. WHAT WAS WRONG WITH THE 1988 ELECTION? -- 2. GOOD DEMOCRATIC PRACTICE: RESPONSIBILITIES IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS -- 3. THE RESEARCH STRATEGY -- 4. THE NEWS MEDIA IN CAMPAIGN '88: WHAT THEY COVERED AND HOW THEY COVERED IT -- 5. WHAT THE ELECTORATE LEARNED -- 6. CITIZENS IN GROUPS -- 7. 1992 AND BEYOND: THEMARKLE COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS -- NOTES -- REFERENCES -- INDEX
Summary: The image of a prison with a revolving door helped George Bush win the presidency in 1988, but did negative advertising damage the electoral process itself? Why did campaign ’88 represent an all-time low in the minds of many voters? These are some of the questions that impel this thought-provoking analysis of the 1988 presidential election, sponsored by the John and Mary R. Markle Foundation. Using extensive empirical studies of the candidates, the media, and the voters, Bruce Buchanan, executive director of the Markle Commission on the Media and the Electorate, traces the roots of popular dissatisfaction with the 1988 election. Buchanan argues that the campaign drifted too far from popular ideals of how democratic processes ought to work—that the substitution of negative advertising and quickie “sound bites” for reasoned debate on national problems and issues alienated much of the electorate, causing the lowest voter turnout in sixty-four years. Negative campaigning, however, cannot bear the full blame for the 1988 election. While the Markle Commission offers specific recommendations for improvements in candidate and media performance, the great need, says Buchanan, is for voters to reclaim the electoral process, to insist that candidates and the media give enough information about positions and programs for voters to make informed choices. Voters need to be educated out of the idea that democratic elections and representative government can somehow occur without the participation of ordinary citizens. At a time when the American democratic process is being used as a model by newly independent nations around the world, it is particularly appropriate to ask how well it works at home. Electing a President does just that.
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Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9780292768475

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- FOREWORD -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- 1. WHAT WAS WRONG WITH THE 1988 ELECTION? -- 2. GOOD DEMOCRATIC PRACTICE: RESPONSIBILITIES IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS -- 3. THE RESEARCH STRATEGY -- 4. THE NEWS MEDIA IN CAMPAIGN '88: WHAT THEY COVERED AND HOW THEY COVERED IT -- 5. WHAT THE ELECTORATE LEARNED -- 6. CITIZENS IN GROUPS -- 7. 1992 AND BEYOND: THEMARKLE COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS -- NOTES -- REFERENCES -- INDEX

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

The image of a prison with a revolving door helped George Bush win the presidency in 1988, but did negative advertising damage the electoral process itself? Why did campaign ’88 represent an all-time low in the minds of many voters? These are some of the questions that impel this thought-provoking analysis of the 1988 presidential election, sponsored by the John and Mary R. Markle Foundation. Using extensive empirical studies of the candidates, the media, and the voters, Bruce Buchanan, executive director of the Markle Commission on the Media and the Electorate, traces the roots of popular dissatisfaction with the 1988 election. Buchanan argues that the campaign drifted too far from popular ideals of how democratic processes ought to work—that the substitution of negative advertising and quickie “sound bites” for reasoned debate on national problems and issues alienated much of the electorate, causing the lowest voter turnout in sixty-four years. Negative campaigning, however, cannot bear the full blame for the 1988 election. While the Markle Commission offers specific recommendations for improvements in candidate and media performance, the great need, says Buchanan, is for voters to reclaim the electoral process, to insist that candidates and the media give enough information about positions and programs for voters to make informed choices. Voters need to be educated out of the idea that democratic elections and representative government can somehow occur without the participation of ordinary citizens. At a time when the American democratic process is being used as a model by newly independent nations around the world, it is particularly appropriate to ask how well it works at home. Electing a President does just that.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 26. Apr 2022)