Communication Commons^™

Gender Stereotypes And The Strategic Use Of Emotions In The 2008 Elections, Newly Paul

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Scholars examining gender bias in elections have found that voters’ stereotypical expectations of women and men candidates affect their vote choice. This dissertation examines gender stereotypes from the perspective of campaigns. Specifically, I examine how ad, candidate and election variables interact with gender stereotypes to determine the use of emotions in political ads. My analysis contains ad data for the 2008 Senate, House and gubernatorial races gathered from the Wisconsin Advertising Project, combined with original content analysis of 1,170,728 ad airings (3,424 unique ads). The results indicate that campaigns’ use of fear, anger, enthusiasm and hope appeals depends to a …