Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Political parties are groups that organize to gain political office, control the governing process, mobilize majorities, organize dissent and opposition, and socialize voters. In democratic political systems parties have emerged as the natural evolution of like-minded interests organizing for political influence. Election campaigns are one major battleground on which political parties compete for influence through political communication (→  Election Campaign Communication ). Many election studies have compared the messages, advertisements, debate performances, issue preferences, and web pages of partisan candidates as well as the overall strategies of the parties themselves (→  Negative Campaigning ; Political Advertising ; Political Marketing ; Issue Management in Politics ; Televised Debates ). In systems with primary elections, it is generally observed that campaign messages are more partisan in the intra-party primary contest (featuring just candidates from one party) and more centrist during the general election campaign (featuring candidates from several parties). Beyond the election situation, research on party political communication has largely examined the roles and functions of party labels and the styles of partisan leaders. Party labels have been defined as cues that provide simple, direct, and consequential information in shaping individuals’ perceptions and ... log in or subscribe to read full text