Presidential Election: A Psychological Perspective
Posted by: Chris Emami | 07/31/2008 4:02 PM
The one word that can best describe any election is persuasion. Every candidate is trying to persuade as many voters as possible to vote for them. In this sense a political campaign is really no different from a business that is trying to sell its product to consumers. What varies between companies as well as political campaigns is the methods that they use to persuade people.
The central route to persuasion can be defined as persuasion that occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts. I see this being the route that John McCain is taking. He has stated his position on taxes, the war, alternative energy, etc... and is using his arguments as his method to try and persuade the voters. His background as a war hero and political experience gives him the ability to go down this route.
The peripheral route to persuasion can be defined as persuasion that occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker's charisma. I think that Obama has seemed to go down this route. Although he has stated some of his positions I think the best example of this is his fascination with the word "change". We do not really know what his exact argument is except for the fact that change is good and we need it. His lack of political experience makes the peripheral route the best because public speaking is probably his strongest attribute.
I see this as an interesting perspective on this year's election, and found it to be one of this things I learned some time ago that turns out to actually apply to real life.
Mr. Ayer registered as a Republican to be electable in an interim election with no incumbents. He did...
"Focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts"? John McCain? Are you SERIOUS?
Are we talking about the same John McCain who has worked tirelessly to criticize every step Obama makes rather than put forward his own ideas? The McCain who just today started running TV ads comparing Obama to Paris Hilton? The McCain who is falling back on his military service (you know, the one where he graduated at the bottom of his class, crashed 4 aircraft, and left his disabled wife after returning from Vietnam) as his primary qualification for the office of President?
Quite the contrary, I see a John McCain who has no new ideas, only the same failed approaches to Iraq and the economy that Bush used to get us into this current mess. And McCain will lose because of that.
Make no mistake, I'm not an Obama supporter, and I won't vote for him in November. But McCain is the most disappointing GOP Presidential candidate since ... well, since Bush 2004. And before that, maybe Wendell Willkie.
Get ready for four to eight more years "in the wilderness," my fellow Republicans. Maybe it will help us rediscover the small government/individual liberty soul of party that Bush has trampled on.
McCain is incapable of presenting any kind of argument at all. Why not? Because his sole guiding principle is his own self-promotion; he differs from Obama in being utterly inarticulate. And that's a bad combination.
No ideas, no positions no arguments. Just confusion. He will attack Obama because that's all he can do; that and presenting himself as a second string "war president." As if the first team hadn't already fumbled the game away.
Chris,
great post. I think your analysis raises a good point, but is a little off in the analysis. I think both of the candidates are in the "peripheral persuader" category, and that's a good thing.
Yes, Obama has definitely gone this route. But this is because that is his main *differentiating* point; on stated policies and voting record he was indistinguishable from Hillary on all but two points[*]. So he had to focus on "image." It worked.
However, McCain can't really run on "issues" either. You must know that much of the "base" does not really trust him, and that is precisely because of his voting record and stated policies. Recall what McCain was saying about Social Conservative Evangelicals before the Iowa primary....
However, as McCain showed in 2000, and again with his come-from-behind nominate win, he can do a lot with a little thanks to his "Maverick" reputation. A huge slice of the electorate responds favorably to this; McCain is proven "persuader.," albeit one that doesn't fit the pre-existing categories readily.
-tyler
[*] Hillary was stronger on Choice, Obama publicly opposed the Iraw invasion in 2003.
Mr Whipple,
Your characterization of McCain's military service is unseemly. One of those "crashes" occurred during the USS Forrestal fire, another from enemy fire while on a low-altitude bombing run. Moreover, many fine American pilots have had difficulties with Military/Naval culture and had poor scores. Ever hear of "Pappy" Boyington's the VMA-214 ?
By all means, question McCain's suitability for the highest office in the land. That's what elections are all about. But John McCain has earned your respect for his military service. I would appreciate it if you would show it -- even though I never served.
red peregrine wrote: As if the first team hadn't already fumbled the game away.
While I agree with this sentiment -- I opposed the Iraq invasion before it began -- this statement is not an argument against McCain. Remember the old joke about the British Army: "When the British Army goes to war it loses every battle but the last one."
[*] Nickname: the "Black Sheep" squadron
"When the British Army goes to war it loses every battle but the last one."
That's pretty good, tyler. But they used to boast that the sun never set on the British Empire. They don't anymore:
too many agitated nationalists and not enough redcoats.
Ah, Clio, forgotten muse!
TylerH,
McCain was a screw-off at the Naval Academy, and graduated 894th in his class of 899 students. Fighter pilot positions are highly coveted and extremely difficult to get -- only 1 in every 100 applicants makes it to a front-line fighter. But John McCain's dad was an admiral, so you can figure out for yourself how that happened.
By McCain's own admission in his autobiography, his life was a disaster until he turned himself around in the early 1990s. Before that he was a drunk and a womanizer.
Things haven't been much better since then. He called his wife, Cindy, a "c*nt" in front of reporters in 1992 after she playfully commented on his receding hairline.
Read "McCain: The Myth of a Maverick" and "The Real McCain: Why Conservatives Don't Trust Him and Why Independents Shouldn't" to get a better look at the man behind the mask. He's a wolf in sheep's clothing, and anything but a conservative.