Abstract
This study adopts The Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse to content analyze political campaign web pages produced by mayoral candidates in six large American cities in 2013. Specifically, this analysis examines online campaign communication from Boston, Charlotte, Detroit, Houston, New York, and Seattle. Results of this analysis found that mayoral candidates used their websites to acclaim themselves more often than to attack their opponents or defend themselves against previous attacks. Additionally, these web pages addressed policy topics more often than they spoke about character concerns. The data also reveals important differences between the way incumbents and challengers use their websites in local elections. Differences also exist between the communication choices of winning mayoral candidates and losing mayoral candidates.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Glantz, Mark; Delbert, Jeffrey; and Davis, Corey
(2016)
"A Functional Analysis of 2013 Mayoral Campaign Web Pages,"
Speaker & Gavel: Vol. 53:
Iss.
1, Article 6.
Available at:
https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/speaker-gavel/vol53/iss1/6
Included in
Social Influence and Political Communication Commons, Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons