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Candidate Image

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Electoral victors are those who excel at projecting imagery and symbolism, but not necessarily those who offer substantive expertise, political experience or pragmatism. Iyengar

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Candidate Image Kenneth Hacker, an expert on political images, considers a candidate image as a sort of total impression of a candidate held by a member of the voting public Includes issue beliefs as well as personality considerations

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How important is image? Experts debate the importance of pure image vis--vis other vote influences such as political party and issue stands, but most acknowledge that it is a significant factor in vote choice Greater for the less-well-informed

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Some critics of American electoral politics have lamented the fact that images have supplanted the meaningful discussion of issues in contemporary campaigns. Image- dominated campaigns are faulted for oversimplifying issues and confusing voters. Hollihan

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Studies have consistently demonstrated that candidate images are very important predictors of how people will vote Hollihan The fact that voters now are more likely to make their own choices between candidates has been cited as at least partly to blame for the increasing dependence on image-dominated political campaigns. Hollihan, p. 83

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Why is political image so important? First, it has been found that voters react better to personal perceptions of the candidates than to objective reality (Sears, 1983). According to Sears (1969), "persons represent unusually simple stimuli, easily cognized and retained (p.364). Second, perceptions of candidate traits provide individuals with a good way to organize all the daily information that becomes available about political issues (Kinder, 1986). Kinder also suggested that personality traits are seen as stable over time, and by ascribing traits to their political leaders, individuals have some basis for gauging the reaction of their political leadership to future demands of their office.

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Gallup

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What are the components of the image?

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Image dimensions Homophily Traits Honesty Intelligence Independence With regard to trust and integrity, research suggests that voters are very sensitive to a candidates physical appearance. Hollihan, p. 94 Self-deprecating humor appreciated by voters Non-verbal behaviors Sensitive to candidate age

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Charisma ability to project confidence, enthusiasm, optimism, goal-orientation, inspirational leadership, and compassion Hollihan, p. 98 may also be one who conveys a warm and friendly image, show seems genuine and personable, who is comfortable speaking, and who has the capacity to speak from his or her heartor at least has can make us so believe Must be appropriate to the situation

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Political image Party identification Ideological commitments Issue positions Linkages to other political figures or interest groups Personal image Age Intellectual abilities Speaking style

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Source: August 28, 2008 Obama Still Lags McCain as Leader, Commander in Chief: Obamas strengths lie in domestic, softer issues by Frank Newport available at: http://www.gallup.com/poll/109891/Obama-Still-Lags- McCain-Leader-Commander-Chief.aspx

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Source: July 16, 2010 Palin's 76% Favorable Among Republicans Tops Others in GOP: Former Alaska governor's image more mixed among all Americans by Frank Newport

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National Adults Republicans/ Lean Republican Democrats/ Lean Democratic % Personal Qualities Honesty/straightforward 33 30 34 Integrity 10 13 7 Good moral character/family values 5 8 2 Intelligence 5 4 6 Honorable 4 5 3 Trustworthy 4 5 Christian 3 6 * Common sense 1 Charisma * 1 Total percentage of all mentions (Note: Results could overlap among some respondents.) 65 71 59

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Voters are especially interested in the issue of trust and the honesty of the candidate

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How are images developed? Image consultants Advertising Pro-candidate Anti-opposition Careful staging of public presentation Events (may or may not be under candidate control) News coverage Popular culture Comedians, etc.

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In plying their craft, political consultants (whom we refer to as image handlers) take a rather formulaic approach to crafting candidate images. Typically, polling is used to identify salient issues on the minds of voters. The next step is to assess which of these issues play to their clients advantage. A campaign strategy is then devised to prime the audience on those issues, deploying images, symbols, and phrases that will connect the candidate to those issues in the minds of voters Grabe and Bucy

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While critics of modern campaigns sometimes argue that candidate images are molded like clay, candidates generally do not conjure an image from scratch. Rather, candidates present themselves selectively to emphasize their personal strengths and deemphasize their weaknesses. Steger, Candidate Image

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Republican Rebranding

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Managing the visuals Candidate appearance Hair Clothes Environment Where photo-ops occur Who the candidate is with Symbols

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Candidate Image http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/sto ry?id=6057246&page=1 http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/sto ry?id=6057246&page=1

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Three major types of candidate image bites Statesman Populist Sure Loser Grabe and Bucy

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Media choices Variety shows Placing spots Exclusives to journalists

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Content emphases Leadership qualities Military record Business experience Steadfastness Relationship with current government Maverick Outsider Successful legislator, etc.

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Rick Snyder for Michigan Super Bowl Ad

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Content emphases Compassion/care for the weak Regardless of actual record Honesty/Integrity Scandals

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Candidates also try to frame their political role characteristics favorably. For example, experience in government may be portrayed as proof of a candidates competence, while a lack of experience may be portrayed as having new ideas or as uncorrupted by the system. Steger

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http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/24026- campaign-essentials-image-management- video.htm http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/24026- campaign-essentials-image-management- video.htm

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Obama image development Top 10 Campaign Promises

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Trying to influence your opponents image Baucus ad against Mike Taylor, 2002 Senatorial race Baucus ad against Mike Taylor, 2002 Senatorial race

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Anti-Democratic Party ad by National Republican Campaign Committee Anti-Democratic Party ad by National Republican Campaign Committee

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Image construction may vary by medium

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As an audiovisual medium that literally traffics in images, television is ideally suited to convey character information. Indeed, most news stories may be too short to do anything except present information about the candidates character and personality (Graber, 1987). Grabe and Bucy

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Lewis

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Images are formed, reinforced, or modified as voters encounter new bits of information that interact with their existing information base... a given bit of information may have different meaning to different people, so a candidates image is largely in the eye of the beholder. Steger

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most voters images of candidates are affected by their party loyalties, ideological orientations, and deep-seated political attitudes relevant to the processing of information about candidates. The electorate tends to see or invent what is favorable and distort or deny much of what is unfavorable, with respect to these prior beliefs. Steger

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In the absence of information about the candidates, as occurs in low visibility elections, partisan voters may construct images of candidates consistent with their expectations and preferences. Steger