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Holbrook, Thomas M.

doi:10.1023/a:1023348513570

Cited by 95 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…According to one study, 60% of participants experienced a shift in their candidate choice after watching a primary debate (Skelley, 2019). General election debates, on the other hand, typically target moderate voters; for them, the most important debate tends to be the first one of the cycle, when less is known about the nominees (Holbrook, 1999;Ordway & Wihbey, 2016). Debates can also be advantageous for an underdog candidate; the lower the expectations, the more likely the candidate will exceed them (Ordway & Wihbey, 2016).…”

Section: Debatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Voting Processes and Procedures

Rome

2021

Promote the Vote

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Voting should be simple. After all, it is the most fundamental activity that defines a democracy. Yet, voting in the United States can be complicated. The voting experience is shaped by federal, state, and local laws and norms, and rules often vary from place to place. This chapter explains some of the basic features of American elections: the various offices for which we vote; the two-party system; the process of registering and casting a ballot; political campaigns; federal, state, and local elections; and ballot measures. By understanding the mechanics of elections, we can educate others (thus increasing voter participation) and begin to develop ideas about how to make the system stronger, more responsive, and more inclusive.ranges from 40 in Alaska to 400 in New Hampshire. In most states, Senators serve 4-year terms; in all but four states, representatives serve 2-year terms (National Conference of State Legislatures [NCSL], 2019b). State legislatures consider a host of important policies that affect the lives of their constituents, including access to healthcare (Medicaid expansion, for example), gun safety, Internet privacy, prison reform, voting rules, education standards, and reproductive rights.At the local government level, the legislature unusually operates as a single body, rather than as two separate chambers. Local legislatures have a variety of names including City Council, Town Council, County Commission, and County Board of Supervisors. These local legislatures, whose members are elected by the public, are responsible for those services that most directly impact the day-to-day lives of residents; this includes transportation, libraries, parks and recreation, trash removal, law enforcement and emergency response, and housing and zoning ordinances. In addition, many states elect the members of their School Boards. Despite the importance and impact these positions have on our everyday lives, Americans continue to vote in local elections at significantly lower rates than they do in federal or state elections (MIT Election Data & Science Lab, n.d.).The executive branch, responsible for implementing the laws, is headed at the national level by the President and Vice President. Voters elect the President and Vice-President as a single ticket; they can serve a maximum of two 4-year terms. The powers of the President are well known and have expanded in recent decades (Dallek, 2011). The US President has historically been regarded as the most powerful figure on the planet, often referred to as the "leader of the free world." The President serves as the nation's Commander-in-Chief, has veto power over Congressional legislation, and appoints the members of the Cabinet, senior white House staff, and federal judges (including Supreme Court justices). At the state level, the lead executive is the Governor, followed by the Lieutenant Governor and the Attorney General; all of these are elected positions. The lead Executive at the local level is typically the Mayor, City Manager, or County Executive. Although loca...

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Section: Debatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Voting Processes and Procedures

Rome

2021

Promote the Vote

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“…Considering prior knowledge as the "springboard for future learning," Glaser and De Corte (1992) suggest that having a coherent knowledge base, "initiates inference, conceptualization, and the acquisition of principled understanding" (p. 1). Thus, while many people acquire new information from watching debates (Benoit et al, 2003;Houston et al, 2013;Maurer & Reinemann, 2006), people who already have political information tend to learn more than people who lack political knowledge (Benoit et al, 2001;Holbrook, 1999). In other words, if a participant has had exposure to political content prior to watching the debate, they should be able to build upon this cognitive base and learn more from their viewing experience.…”

Section: Cognitive Architecturementioning

confidence: 99%

Learning from Presidential Debates: Who Learns the Most and Why?

Jennings

Warner

McKinney

et al. 2020

Communication Studies

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Perhaps one of the most well-established findings stemming from decades of research exploring the effects of televised presidential debates is that exposure to this "information-rich" source of campaign communication enables viewers' acquisition of issue knowledge. However, certain individuals will benefit more from the debate viewing experience because differences in individual characteristics allow some to learn more than others. In this quasi-experimental study, we test whether those with more pre-debate knowledge, political information efficacy, and need for cognition gain more information from debate viewing. In so doing, we clarify the mechanisms that underlie information acquisition from debates and consider the boundary conditions that constrain debate learning. The findings provide more nuance to our understanding of the mechanisms behind the learning of political knowledge from televised candidate debates.

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“…Voters rely on a range of heuristics including party affiliation (Dancey and Sheagley 2013), group endorsements (Lau and Redlawsk 1997), and ideology (Lau and Redlawsk 2001) to inform their voting decisions. More intuitively, campaign messaging may also help voters to form impressions of candidates (Lodge et al 1995, Holbrook 1999. Since voters can adopt many different strategies for decision-making, researchers have investigated how successful voters are in casting 'correct' votes, i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Frequent pro-climate messaging does not predict pro-climate voting by United States legislators

Wynes

Dickau

Kotcher

et al. 2022

Environ. Res.: Climate

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Legislators who frequently advocate for climate action might be expected to cast more pro-climate votes, but pro-climate messaging alone may not predict actual voting behavior. We analyzed 401 539 tweets posted by 518 United States federal legislators over the 6 months prior to the 2020 election and identified 5350 of these as containing climate-relevant messaging. Of the 4881 tweets that we coded as promoting climate awareness or supporting action (‘pro-climate’), 92% were posted by Democratic legislators while all 138 tweets undermining climate awareness or opposing action (‘anti-climate’) were posted by Republicans. Constituent support for Congressional climate action was only weakly related to the rate of pro-climate tweeting by legislators. Overall, we found that increased pro-climate tweeting was not a significant predictor of pro-climate voting when controlling for party affiliation and constituent support for climate action. We conclude that climate-concerned voters would be best served by using party affiliation rather than climate-related messaging to judge the pro-climate voting intentions of United States legislators.

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Untitled

Cited by 95 publications

References 35 publications

Voting Processes and Procedures

Voting Processes and Procedures

Learning from Presidential Debates: Who Learns the Most and Why?

Frequent pro-climate messaging does not predict pro-climate voting by United States legislators

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