Second Year Media Design http://loxyreid.posterous.com Lachlan Reid posterous.com Mon, 28 May 2012 18:23:00 -0700 CCDN271 Assignment 3 - Substantiating Claims http://loxyreid.posterous.com/ccdn271-assignment-3-substantiating-claims http://loxyreid.posterous.com/ccdn271-assignment-3-substantiating-claims

 With the 2008 U.S. Presidential Electorate being the most expensive campaign in U.S. history, with over USD$2.4 billion raised (World Records Academy, 2008), it is a good example to use for my argument that it is crucial for potential candidates to target women in their campaigns. During my research I shall use three articles as evidence to develop my argument and reach a conclusive answer.

The first piece of evidence I will use for my research paper is an article from the New York Times. “Both Sides Seeking to Be What Women Want” was written a month and a half before the Presidential Election by Kate Zernike. In the article she writes about the differences between the two campaigns of Obama and McCain, in particular the way they were targeting women in the lead up to the election. This article is important to my research as it clearly outlines differences in party policy: - “… Obama emphasizing pay equity and abortion rights and Mr. McCain … raising questions of respect.” (Zernike, 2008) and also it gives good reasons as to why the women’s vote is so important: - “Women have voted in greater proportions than men for almost three decades…” (Zernike, 2008). This article will give me crucial evidence to support my thesis statement.

The research article “The 'Palin Effect' in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election” by the Western Political Science Association's Jonathan Knuckey will be my second source of evidence. The paper addresses whether Sarah Palin affected vote choice in 2008 (Knuckey, 2011). As my research investigates both major campaigns of the 2008 presidential election, it is important to review the impact that Sarah Palin had on voters. Knuckey has conducted a thorough statistical analysis of Palin's impact on the election, for example, Figure 1 shows the relationship between voter's feelings for Palin and their probability of voting for McCain (Knuckey, 2011).

 

 
 


Figure 1: Predicted probability of vote for McCain by Palin feeling thermometer rating, by party identification (Source: Knuckey, 2011)

 

It is essential for me to study Palin's impact on the presidential election and how it failed to generate votes for McCain as “Palin’s effect on vote choice was the largest of any vice presidential candidate in elections examined dating back to 1980” (Knuckey, 2011) and “...may have contributed to a loss of support among swing voters” (Knuckey, 2011). 

The third piece of evidence, which I will primarily use to reinforce my conclusion, is an article describing the results of the election. “Gender Gap Evident in the 2008 Election…” by Debbie Walsh and Susan Carroll, is an article summarizing the differences in the end result of the 2008 election. “Women strongly preferred Obama to Senator John McCain, 56 percent for Obama, 43 percent for McCain” (Walsh, 2008) shows important statistics that I will be able to use to determine if the specific targeting of women voters made a difference or not. It is necessary for me to use evidence from this article to aid the conclusion of my research. 

Using these three articles by Zernike, Knuckey, Walsh and Carroll as evidence I will be able to build a strong argument, backed up by substantial evidence, claiming that it is crucial for potential candidates to target women in their campaigns.

Knuckey, J. (2012) The "Palin Effect" in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election. Political Research Quarterly, 65 (275).

 

Walsh, D. and Carroll, S. (2008) Gender Gap Evident in the 2008 Election. [online] Available at: http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/press_room/news/documents/PressRelease_11-05-08_w... [Accessed: 9 May 2012].

 

World Records Academy (2008) Most expensive presidential campaign-US Election sets world record. [online] Available at: http://www.worldrecordsacademy.org/society/most_expensive_presidential_campai... [Accessed: 10 May 2012].

 

Zernike, K. (2008) Both Sides Seeking to Be What Women Want. New York Times, [online] 15 September. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/us/politics/15women.html?_r=2&scp=1&... [Accessed: 8 May 2012].

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