Hannah Yates

Date of Award

2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Reilly, Jack

Area of Concentration

Political Science

Abstract

In the field of political science, research on voter behavior is abundant, yet the reasons behind the decisions voters ultimately make are still not entirely clear. In contemporary politics, the role political media plays in voter decision making is growing, and studies on how voters react to different types of political media are showing up in academic journals more and more often. This thesis examines how voters respond to campaign advertisements that target a specific identity group within the population. Through experimentation, I tested how campaign advertisements, that target voters who identify as female, were received by voters who identify as female, voters who identify as male, and voters who identify as non-binary. This study looks specifically at how the use of targeted campaign advertising affects both voter motivation and voter candidate preferences. The results of the experiment go against the conclusions drawn in previous literature on this topic, indicating that the context in which targeted campaign ads are used effects how useful the ad will be in motivating and persuading voters.

Download

Share

COinS