Studies of Communication in the 2016 Presidential Campaign

Robert E. Denton, Jr. holds the W. Thomas Rice Chair in the Pamplin College of Business and is professor and head of the Department of Communication at Virginia Tech.

The presidential election of 2016 represented an epistemological crisis for the traditional interpretive communities charged with understanding and forecasting political events in the United States. There is arguably no greater failure of prediction in the past 50 to 75 years or more with regard to the momentous election of an American president. Nearly all prognostication sources forecasted Hillary Clinton to defeat Donald Trump in election 2016. It is the situational crisis of this moment that makes Studies of Communication in the 2016 Presidential Campaign such an exceptional study in political communication that should be sought by all who are interested in understanding American politics. Studies of Communication in the 2016 Presidential Campaign gathers together a wide range of emerging and established scholars to provide powerful chapter based analysis of key aspects of the election that clarify how the experts could be so wrong. From presidential debates to social media, to gender and media bias, this book compiles solid academic insights about how this incredible political irony came to be and how we might anticipate future American politics from this point forward. Editor Dr. Robert Denton has a unique gift for bringing together a collection of experts uniquely suited to explain the nearly inexplicable. This book will stand as another strong testament to his prescient view over American politics that has been observable for many years.

• ContentsAcknowledgmentsPrefaceIntroduction: The 2016 Presidential Campaign Like No OtherRobert E. Denton, Jr.Chapter 1: The Presidential Election of 2016: The Nomination GameHenry Kenski and Kate KenskiChapter 2: Oh, the Places They’ll Go: The Geography and Political Strategy of Presidential Campaign Visits in 2016Christopher J. DevineChapter 3: “I’m with Her:” The Impact of Gender Social Identification on Debate Perceptions and EffectsFreddie J. Jennings, Molly Greenwood, and Mitchell S. McKinneyChapter 4: Taking Sides: WikiLeaks, the “Podesta Emails,” and the MediaLyombe Eko and Christopher HetheringtonChapter 5: The Age of Aggressive Apologia: Donald Trump’s Response to Lewd VideoJoseph M. Valenzano, IIIChapter 6: Media Bias and Alinsky’s Rules: Two Sides of Campaign ConventionalityMichele Rees Edwards and Terrence WarburtonChapter 7: Slicing the 2016 Campaign News Pie: Front Page Election CoverageJoan L. ConnersChapter 8: #TeamGov: On the Political Experience, Campaign Messaging, and Electoral Performance of Johnson Weld 2016Kyle C. Kopko and Christopher J. DevineChapter 9: We Are Not Amused: Authenticity as the Media Metaphor of @realDonaldTrumpAndrew C. JonesChapter 10: Fantasy Themes in Donald Trump’s Presidential Campaign Announcement Speech and Audience ReactionHanisha Besant and Stephen D. PerryChapter 11: Hillary Clinton’s 2016 Concession Speech in the Context of an Evolving GenreTheodore F. SheckelsAbout the ContributorsSelected BibliographyIndex