Political Persuasion Tactics

In Rhetoric, Aristotle maintains there are three types of persuasive appeals; Logos, Pathos, and Ethos (Simmons, 2001, p. 48). Logos represent appeals to reason; Pathos refers to appeals to emotion, and Ethos represent appeals based on the character of the speaker. Political campaign tactics aimed at persuasion often rely on all three types of persuasive appeals, whether transmitted through speeches, debates, or television advertisements. In the current presidential nomination race, Barack Obama is often accused of promoting "rhetoric" over "substance;" while others view Hillary Clinton as lacking the "character" qualities of Senator Obama. Larson (1983) maintains that political candidates are frequently condemned for stressing "image" over "issues" in their campaigns (p. 297). From speeches and debates to advertising and television appearances, political candidates employ a variety of tactics aimed at persuasion. This analysis will discuss a number of different strategies of persuasion employed by political candidates during a campaign. A conclusion will relate the findings of this research with the current presidential campaign.

In order to persuade voters of the legitimacy of their agenda and candidacy, politicians resort to a number of persuasion tactics, which they employ through speeches, public and media appearances, advertising and other means of information dissemination. The clich� image of a politician ki

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e Obama's campaign, trying to persuade Americans that they are not safe with Obama in command. Brader (2005) argues that because of the ubiquitous nature of the media, including the Internet, "for the first time political ads can change the way citizens get involved and make choices simply by using images and music to evoke emotions" (p. 388). Cueing fear in individuals often leads to persuasion to act to undermine those fears. Hillary Clinton's ad is designed to cue fear that Obama is not prepared to being Commander in Chief in an age of terrorism and international conflict. Herb Scheinkopf is a political communications consultant in New York City who worked as an adviser to many politicians, including former President Bill Clinton during his presidential campaign. Scheinkopf argues that carefully chosen words and well-crafted language are the keys to persuading voters, "People do not vote based on their brains. They vote based on their guts" (Nankani, 2004, p. 8). Rhetoric is significant as a persuasion tactic because it does more than convey ideas and clarify fact. Rhetoric is about "evoking emotions and responses" (Nankani, 2004, p. 8). We see this often during political campaigns. From Aristotle to modern c

Category: Psychology - P