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.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 446-470 |
Number of pages | 25 |
Journal | State Politics and Policy Quarterly |
Volume | 13 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 2013 |
Keywords
- Agenda convergence
- Campaigns
- Candidate behavior
- Elections
- Issue ownership
- Political advertising
- Political communication