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Full-Text Articles in American Politics
2020 General Presidential Debates: The Coronavirus Clash, William L. Benoit, Kevin A. Stein
2020 General Presidential Debates: The Coronavirus Clash, William L. Benoit, Kevin A. Stein
Speaker & Gavel
In the run up to the 2020 election on November 3, 2020, two presidential and one vice presidential debate were held (another planned presidential debate was cancelled because of coronavirus). The presidential debates used attacks more than acclaims – and more than previous debates (the vice presidential debate was fairly similar to previous VP debates). Biden and Trump discussed policy more than character (as did the VP debate and previous presidential and vice presidential debates). Unlike most previous encounters, conflicting with the theoretical prediction and in contrast to the vice presidential debate, the two Biden Trump debates in 2020 attacked …
A Functional Analysis Of Non-Presidential Primary Debates, William L. Benoit, Jayne R. Goode
A Functional Analysis Of Non-Presidential Primary Debates, William L. Benoit, Jayne R. Goode
Speaker & Gavel
Despite the fact that political debates are increasingly common at all levels of government, relatively little work investigates the content of non-presidential debates (and work on primary debates is even less common). This study breaks new ground by analyzing four non-presidential primary debates. Two Democratic gubernatorial debates, one Republican U.S. Senate debate, and one Republican U.S. House debate were content analyzed using the framework of the functional theory of political campaign discourse. Overall, these debates were mainly positive, with 71% acclaims, 22% attacks, and 7% defenses. The Democratic (and gubernatorial) debates had more attacks and defenses and fewer defenses than …
Obama Transforming: Using Functional Theory To Identify Transformational Leadership, Kristina Drumheller, Greg G. Armfield
Obama Transforming: Using Functional Theory To Identify Transformational Leadership, Kristina Drumheller, Greg G. Armfield
Speaker & Gavel
The 2008 presidential campaign convention speeches broke records as viewers flocked to the speeches by Obama, Palin, and McCain in numbers that rivaled American Idol ratings. Adapting functional theory (Benoit, 2007) to include transformational leadership characteristics (Bass & Avolio, 1990), President Obama‘s 2008 nomination acceptance speech was used test the adapting of functional theory for analyzing leadership claims. Secondary data were used as evidentiary support of Obama‘s efforts to make changes once in the White House. Results are discussed and framed within functional theory and transfor-mational leadership.