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The Dynamics of Campaign Issue Agendas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2021

Kevin K. Banda
Kevin K. Banda*
Affiliation:
University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA
*
Kevin K. Banda, University of Missouri, 113 Professional Building, Columbia, MO 65211-6030, USA. Email: bandak@missouri.edu
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Abstract

I argue that candidates shape their issue agendas—the sets of related issues on which they focus—in part in response to the issue agendas of their opponents and that competitive campaigns stimulate candidates to respond to one another at higher rates. I test my theory of candidate interaction using weekly advertising data at the media market level from 146 statewide elections—54 gubernatorial and 92 U.S. Senate contests—from six election years and across all 50 states. I find that candidates systematically respond to one another's issue agendas and do so to a greater extent in competitive elections than in noncompetitive elections.

Keywords

campaignselectionsagenda convergenceissue ownershipcandidate behaviorpolitical advertisingpolitical communication
Type
Research Article
Information
State Politics & Policy Quarterly , Volume 13 , Issue 4 , December 2013 , pp. 446 - 470
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2013

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