Graduate Program

Political Science

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Semester of Degree Completion

2008

Thesis Director

Melinda Mueller

Thesis Committee Member

Andrew McNitt

Thesis Committee Member

B. Poole

Abstract

Television campaign ads are considered by scholars as the primary resource which candidates for national office use to introduce themselves and their views to the public, regardless of whether they are male or female. The majority of research nonetheless has focused on advertising at the Presidential and Congressional level. It has also focused on the use of negativity in their ads. Women candidates as an aggregate have many obstacles in terms of television advertising. The long standing stereotype of women as the homemaker and mother would lead many to believe that they should and only focus on women's issues such as education and healthcare. The fact that they have been viewed as weak and undercompetitive in electoral races because of their need to reinforce their gender identity may also signify that they have a limited ability to use negative advertising. This thesis will study using both qualitative and quantitative techniques will first study whether negative and male issue advertising was significant during the 2006 mid-term elections and which females were more likely to incorporate them as well as if they influenced electoral success. Also, how women must balance male and female issues and negativity in their television advertising will be analyzed in a case study of four competitive races from the 2006 mid-term Congressional elections from Dianne Feinstein from California, Ellen Simon from Arizona, L. Tammy Duckworth from Illinois, and Patricia Madrid and heather Wilson of New Mexico. These candidates were the incumbent, the challenger, open seat candidate, and female vs. female. The results indicated that different types of female candidates are more likely to use negative advertising while gender issue advertising is seen as not as influential as once believed. In the case study, a different emphasis in issues and negativity corresponded to whether the candidate was an incumbent, challenger, or pursuing and open seat in their individual race.

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