The New Frontier: An Analysis of Effective New Media Political Communications and Campaigning

<p>Objectives: In the age of new media communication, politics has taken a swift turn as the Internet lends itself to quicker and less expensive contact. Politicians in all realms have adopted its communicative aspects in many forms as a means of promoting themselves and staying in contact with their constituents. What causes politicians to be more "connected" than others? And secondly, does that "connectivity" lead to successful elections? In this analysis, we will discuss what contributes to a United States Senator's connectivity, and if his or her heightened connectivity led to a higher probability of winning elections. Units of analysis: The senators from the 111 th United States Senate. Data/Methods: For this analysis, binary regression will be used. Our units of analysis will be dissected using logistic regression to determine what variables are statistically significant. For the second half of this analysis, the dependent variable will be a binary measure of successfully won elections. In this second part, our original connectivity measure will assume the spot of an independent variable. Hypothesis: State poverty rating and Leadership rating will be the two most important variables in determining a senator's connectivity score, and subsequently, the more connected the senator is, the higher probability he or she has of winning an election.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Political Science, International Development, and International Affairs

Year dc:date.available

2011

Author dc:creator

• Mueller, Kaitlin Ann

Contributors dc:contributor

• Troy Gibson
• Marek Steedman
• Joseph Parker

• Political Science
• Social and Behavioral Sciences

Repository record dc:identifier

https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/489

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:aquila.usm.edu:masters_theses-1566