Over the past thirty-five years, 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 U.S. political campaigns. But while these forces seem powerful, little scientific evidence has been gathered of their impact. Communication in U.S. Elections presents work from some of the best young scholars in two disciplines--communication and political science--on how modern election campaigns are affected by such forces. The authors look at how voters acquire political information, how issues are "framed" for them by the mass media, how attitudes about social groups are created, and how political advertising uses popular culture to affect voting patterns. The result is a fresh and comprehensive overview of why modern political campaigns turn out as they do.

Chapter 1 Communicating and Electing Part 2 Part I: Informing the Modern Electorate Chapter 3 Democracy for Some? How Political Talk Informs and Polarizes the Electorate Chapter 4 Who's Voted in When the People Tune Out? Information Effects in Congressional Elections Part 5 Part II: Media Frames in Contemporary Campaigns Chapter 6 The Collision of Convictions: Value-Framing and Value Judgments Chapter 7 A Unified Method for Analyzing Media Framing Part 8 Part III: Interpersonal Judgments and Electoral Outcomes Chapter 9 Voter Uncertainty and Candidate Contact: New Influences on Voting Behavior Chapter 10 Declining Trust and a Shrinking Policy Agenda: Why Media Scholars Should Care Part 11 Part IV: U.S. Campaigns and Group Identities Chapter 12 Imagining Political Parties: A Constructionist Approach Chapter 13 The Mass Media and Group Priming in American Elections Part 14 Part V: New Modes of Campaign Influence Chapter 15 The Outside Game: Congressional Communication and Party Strategy Chapter 16 Internet Politics: A Survey of Practices Chapter 17 Political Advertising and Popular Culture in the Televisual Age