Communication in U.S. Elections: New Agendas

Since 1965, the rapid development of communication technology, the decline of political parties, a growing culture of cynicism and the rise of the Internet have all affected US political campaigns. This volume presents work from young scholars in two disciplines - communication and political science - on how modern election campaigns are affected by such forces. The contributors look at how voters acquire political information, how issues are frames for them by the mass media, how attitudes about social groups are created and how political advertising uses popular culture to affect voting patterns. This is a comprehensive overview of why modern political campaigns turn out as they do.