Abstract
When candidates engage in robust policy debate, it gives citizens clear choices on issues that matter. Previous studies of issue engagement have primarily used indicators of campaign strategy that are mediated by reporters (e. g., newspaper articles) or indicators that may exclude candidates in less competitive races (e. g., television advertisements). We study issue engagement with data from a unique source, congressional candidate Web sites, that are unmediated and representative of both House and Senate campaigns. We find that the saliency of issues in public opinion is a primary determinant of candidate engagement. And, despite the unique capacity of the Internet to allow candidates to explain their positions on a large number of issues, candidates continue to behave strategically, selecting a few issues on which to engage their adversaries.
Repository Citation
Druckman, James N., Cari Lynn Hennessy, Martin J. Kifer, and Michael Parkin. 2010. "Issue Engagement On Congressional Candidate Web Sites, 2002-2006." Social Science Computer Review 28(1): 3-23.
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Publication Date
2-1-2010
Publication Title
Social Science Computer Review
Department
Politics
Document Type
Article
DOI
https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0894439309335485
Keywords
Issue engagement, Candidate web sites, Internet, Congressional campaigns
Document Version
post-print
Language
English
Format
text
