Television Advertising in Mayoral Campaigns
39 Pages Posted: 20 Jan 2020
Date Written: 2009
Abstract
In this research we investigate the substance and tone of mayoral candidates’ campaign speech as revealed in television advertisements. Our main empirical focus is on the behavior of minority candidates, who for strategic reasons are expected to deracialize their campaigns in an effort to appeal to white crossover voters. Unlike previous research we compare the speech of minorities and non-minorities alike, both within and across election contexts. We also examine primary and runoff elections with the expectation that candidates’ issue speech and tone will differ depending on the phase of the election. We find that in primary elections, black candidates talk significantly more than non-blacks about redistributive issues, and significantly less than non-blacks on the issue of crime. The same is true in runoff contests with regard to redistribution. As for candidates’ tone, Hispanic candidates are somewhat less negative than whites, controlling a large number of individual and contextual factors likely to influence candidates’ campaigns. We discuss the implications of our findings for the theory of deracialization.
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