Presidential Leadership and the Makings of Public Policy

Session Submission Type: Virtual Created Panel

Session Description

How do presidents exert their influences during the policymaking process? Tyner, Jalazai, and Wiliarty ask whether the leader’s gender impact the success of their country’s response to the Covid-19 crisis. Addressing a critical gap in the literature which focuses largely on large-N quantitative analysis, they conduct interviews with senior elected officials and civil servants to investigate whether women-led countries are more prone to produce more successful health outcomes during the pandemic and to better withstand the negative economic impact sparked by the pandemic. Taylor examines how presidential leadership impacts U.S. economic performance. Focusing on the presidency of William McKinley, Taylor makes the argument that, contrary to popular understanding, McKinley’s leadership style and commitment to specific political-economic vision were key factors that resulted in the U.S. becoming the wealthiest economy in the world by the time of his assassination in 1901. Eshbaugh-Soha examines how the tone of presidential rhetoric on immigration has changed over time and in response to changing policy and political environments. Applying quantitative content analysis to all presidential mentions of immigration since 1953, Eshbaugh-Soha finds that significant fluctuations in the tone of presidential rhetoric over time, suggesting, however, that tone alone is insufficient to explain the president’s success in leading the immigration policy agenda. Haeder and Chattopadhyay focus on the role of social media and healthcare policy, arguing that communications via Twitter is distinctively different from other forms of media because it allows the president to reach out to the American public directly and frequently without any media filter. Using survey experiments, Haeder and Chattopadhyay show that the type of presidential tweet affects both perceptions of the ACA and the level of public trust in political party’s ability to address healthcare issues.

Sub Unit

• Division 23: Presidents and Executive Politics

Individual Presentations

• Crisis Competence: How Women Leaders Tackled Covid-19 and the Economic Recession - Katie Tyner, The Cohen Group; Farida Jalalzai, Virginia Tech; Sarah Elise Wiliarty, Wesleyan University

• William McKinley, Presidential Leadership, and the Developmental State - Zak Taylor, Georgia Institute of Technology

• The Tone of Presidential Immigration Rhetoric - Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha, University of North Texas

• The Power of a Tweet? Presidential Communication and the Affordable Care Act - Simon F. Haeder, The Pennsylvania State University; Jacqueline M. Chattopadhyay, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Chair

• Meena Bose Hofstra University

Discussants

• Jonathan D. Klingler University of Mississippi

• Meena Bose Hofstra University