The “Veepstakes”: Strategic Choice in Presidential Running Mate Selection

Sigelman, Lee; Wahlbeck, Paul J.

doi:10.2307/2952169

Cited by 30 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…In many ways, Sarah Palin was a particularly enigmatic and counterprototypical vicepresidential candidate. She was a relatively unknown political figure at the national level prior to being chosen as McCain's running mate and later the Republican nominee for Vice President, whereas most candidates for Vice President have had a more prominent national image when they were selected (Sigelman and Wahlbeck 1997). Palin is a conservative Republican, whereas most women who run for political office are more liberal Democrats (Dolan 2004).…”

Section: Why So Much Focus On Sarah Palin's Image?mentioning

confidence: 98%

Going Out on a Limb in an Underdeveloped Branch of Objectification Research

Budesheim

2011

Sex Roles

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This paper comments on Heflick and Goldenberg (2010) and examines the evidence cited to support their claim that the objectification of Sarah Palin undermined her performance and voters' perceptions of her competence. Drawing on evidence related to U.S. media and U.S. political elections, I discuss the conflicting images of Sarah Palin and how they may have contributed to a greater focus on her appearance. I review evidence of how Sarah Palin and other female political candidates have been treated by the media and conclude the evidence for objectification by the media is weak. While the experimental evidence of the objectification of Sarah Palin is intriguing, it does not eliminate plausible alternative explanations for judgments of her competence. Particular attention is paid to the problem of operationally defining objectification, whether in analyses of the media or in laboratory studies. More empirical research on the objectification of others is encouraged, and directions for future experimental research in this area are discussed.

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Section: Why So Much Focus On Sarah Palin's Image?mentioning

confidence: 98%

Going Out on a Limb in an Underdeveloped Branch of Objectification Research

Budesheim

2011

Sex Roles

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“…2. Note that studies on vice-presidential selection have identified several variables unrelated to geographic balancing that influence this process of selection (see Sigelman & Wahlbeck, 1997). 3.…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring the Vice-Presidential Home State Advantage With Synthetic Controls

Heersink

Peterson

2016

American Politics Research

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Measuring the effect strategic choices have on electoral outcomes is problematic, because this requires an assessment of the outcome under a counterfactual that is not observed. To overcome this problem, we extend the synthetic control approach for causal inference to circumstances with multiple treated cases and use it to estimate the effect of vice-presidential candidates on their home states' vote. Existing research has concluded that vice-presidential candidates have little effect on the outcome of elections in their home states. However, our results from elections spanning 1884-2012 suggest that vice-presidential candidates increase their tickets' performance in their home states by 2.67 percentage points on average-considerably higher than previous studies have found. In addition, our results suggest that the vice-presidential home state advantage (HSA) could have swung four presidential elections since 1960, if presidential candidates had chosen running mates from strategically optimal states.

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“…When choosing a running mate, presidential nominees must balance two potentially competing goals: maximizing their chances of actually being elected president and selecting a vice president who is capable of sharing the burdens of government and, if necessary, succeeding to the presidency. Because the latter is meaningless without the former, the academic and popular consensus is that electoral motivations drive the choice of a running mate (Goldstein 1982; Natoli 1985; Polsby and Wildavsky 1991; Sigelman and Wahlbeck 1997). Generally, the conventional wisdom is that presidential candidates seek to balance their ticket by choosing a running mate who contributes key qualities that the presidential nominee lacks.…”

Section: The Changing Incentives Of Vice Presidential Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Institutional Change and the Dynamics of Vice Presidential Selection

Hiller

Kriner

2008

Pres Stud Q

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The influence of the vice presidency has expanded dramatically in recent years, yet scholars know surprisingly little about how presidential nominees choose their running mates and how the selection process has changed over time. This study argues that the confluence of two events—the McGovern‐Fraser reforms of the early 1970s and the exogenous shock of George McGovern's ill‐fated selection of Thomas Eagleton as his running mate in 1972—changed the factors driving running mate selection. Specifically, in the post‐1972 era, presidential nominees have looked less to traditional incentives such as ticket balancing and more toward governing experience to help them in the general election and, if they succeed, in the White House. We test a model with empirical data from 1940 to 2004.

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The “Veepstakes”: Strategic Choice in Presidential Running Mate Selection

Cited by 30 publications

References 8 publications

Going Out on a Limb in an Underdeveloped Branch of Objectification Research

Going Out on a Limb in an Underdeveloped Branch of Objectification Research

Measuring the Vice-Presidential Home State Advantage With Synthetic Controls

Institutional Change and the Dynamics of Vice Presidential Selection

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