The Role of Ideology, Messaging, and Valence in Congressional Elections

• In Event: Poster Session: Experimental Research & Qualitative and Multi-Method Research
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Experimental Research

Abstract

Despite the wealth of political science work tackling the role of campaigning in American elections, there is still little consensus regarding the effect of campaign appeals, as well as the role of negativity in campaigns. Further, few of these works address the possible impact of candidate traits on the efficacy of appeals or the competitive nature of campaigns, with some notable exceptions. Propositions from formal theory on candidate ideology and valence provide a backdrop for considering these issues, but this work is largely divorced from the appeals literature. Existing observational work on candidate ideology and valence better addresses the competition between candidates, but rarely maps neatly to the formal theoretical literature. Through the use of voter guides for mock Congressional general elections, I employ a conjoint experiment to explicitly examine formal theoretical work on candidate positioning and valence while also addressing the role of campaign appeals, including the role of negativity.

Author

• William Smith, Princeton University