An Examination of the Nature and Consequence of Senate Campaigns

[9308421]卡恩：政治竞选对一个正常运转的民主制度至关重要，因为至少，它们激励选民参与选举过程，为选民提供一个特定的时间来反思国家状况，为政治家、精英和专家提供一个讨论当今重要问题的论坛，并为候选人提供一个与选民直接沟通的机制。在这项研究中，调查人员关注候选人与选民沟通的过程，以及这些信息如何影响选民的行为。具体来说，他们研究了美国参议院竞选活动的性质和后果。参议院选举为研究竞选活动提供了最佳环境，因为这些选举在候选人的政治经验、竞选策略、竞选支出和媒体报道方面提供了令人印象深刻的变化。与低调的众议院竞选和竞争激烈的总统竞选不同，参议院竞选的激烈程度差别很大。有些竞选是一边倒的，一名候选人轻松获胜；还有一些是竞争激烈的，一名候选人勉强获胜；还有一些介于两者之间。这项调查涉及三种不同的数据收集活动，重点是1988-1992年美国参议院选举：1)采访参议院竞选经理；（二）审查候选人的政治广告；3)对参议院竞选的报纸报道进行研究。这些新数据使我们能够审视候选人和报纸向选民传达信息的过程。除了收集这些数据外，调查人员还依赖于国家选举研究（National Election Studies）已经提供的调查数据。全国选举研究组织在1988年、1990年和1992年对每一次参议院选举的潜在选民进行了逐个州的调查。这些调查询问选民，除其他外，他们对候选人的了解，他们对候选人的喜欢和不喜欢，以及他们在民意调查中支持哪些候选人。这些调查数据，加上正在创建的三个数据集，将使调查人员能够衡量选民对竞选活动中发出的信息的反应，并深入了解选民如何决定他们的投票。＊＊＊

9308421 Kahn Political campaigns are crucial to a functioning democracy because, at the very least,s they energize voters to participate in the electoral process, they provide a specific time period for voters to reflect on the state of the nation, they afford a forum for politicians, elites, and experts to debate the important issues of the day, and they supply a mechanism by which candidates can communicate directly with voters. In this study, the investigators focus on the process by which candidates communicate with voters and how these messages affect the behavior of voters. Specifically, they examine the nature and consequences of campaigns for the U.S. Senate. Senate elections present an optimal setting for the study of campaigns because these elections provide impressive variation in candidates' political experience, campaign strategy, campaign spending, and media coverage. Unlike campaigns for the U.S. House of Representatives, which are usually low-key affairs, and presidential races, which are often highly competitive contests, campaigns for the U.S. Senate vary considerably in their intensity. Some races are lopsided, where one candidate wins easily; others are competitive where one candidate ekes out a narrow victory; and still others fall somewhere in between. This investigation involves three distinct data collection activities focusing on the 1988-1992 elections for the U.S. Senate: 1) interviews with senate campaign managers; 2) an examination of the candidates' political advertisements; and, 3) a study of the newspaper coverage of the senate campaigns. These new data allow an examination of the process by which candidates and newspapers communicate information to voters. In addition to collecting these data, the investigators rely on survey data already available from the National Election Studies. The National Election Study conducted a state by state survey of potential voters for each senate election in 1988, 1990, and 1992. These surveys asked voters, among other things, what they knew about the candidates, what they liked and disliked about the candidates, and which candidates they supported at the polls. These survey data, coupled with the three data sets being created, will enable the investigators to gauge voters' reactions to the messages emananting from the campaign, and provide insight into how voters decide their vote. ***