Presidents and the Public

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

One of the key ways that presidents seek to advance their electoral, policy, and legacy goals is by influencing the public. The papers in this panel explore several aspects of presidents' attempts to influence the public, including 1) how presidential rhetoric affects public opinion, 2) the kinds of messages presidents transmit to the public through different types of instruments and under different policymaking conditions, and 3) how presidents utilize other actors in their supportive coalitions to influence the public on their behalf.

Sub Unit

• Division 23: Presidents and Executive Politics

Individual Presentations

• Rhetorical Presidency through Symbolic Actions: Thanksgiving Proclamations - Yu Ouyang, Purdue University Northwest

• The Public Consequences of Presidential Legitimacy Rhetoric - Stephanie Wise, Central College

• Presidential Mobilization of Organized Interests - David Ryan Miller, University of California, Riverside

• Fighting Words: How Presidents Go Public in War and Peace - Benjamin Noble, University of California, San Diego

• Did Reagan Decline? - Matthew N. Beckmann, University of California, Irvine

Chair

• Shelby Buono Shumard Vanderbilt University

Discussants

• Julia Rezazadeh Azari Marquette University

• Meena Bose Hofstra University