Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Hardy, Tranae Timika

Titel

Managing the Brand: Party Responses to Scandal

Ort / Verlag

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses

Erscheinungsjahr

2023

Quelle

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• As a part of their brand management, parties must protect against potential threats including scandal. These events negatively impact electoral outcomes, both on an individual level and for the party as a whole. Yet, parties do not always act to temper the negative response of the electorate and to shield their brands. Why? This dissertation explores party brand management in the face of scandal. I employ text-as-data methods on party platforms to establish the party brands over time. Using an original dataset of member responses made via Twitter, press releases, and statements made on the chamber floor, I show that members of Congress are differently incentivized to participate in party branding when scandal occurs and thus behave differently. This dissertation finds limited evidence that copartisans are less likely to participate than the opposition party. However, among copartisans, I show that ties in the form of cosponsorship increase participation and that limited evidence exists for increased participation from party leaders. I also highlight party differences in participation. Party leaders take the lead in Democratic branding while the ideological extreme lead for Republicans. I examine the content of the public statements made in response to scandal. I find that the Democratic Party and Republican Party offer opposing levels of criticism to scandals of the same type. Democrats are predicted to respond to sex scandals with condemnation while Republicans are predicted to respond with statements of support. Moreover, Democrats respond to corruption and financial scandals with condemnation whereas Republicans respond with deflection. This dissertation reveals party brand to be a driver of the content of member responses to the scandals of their co-partisans. Democrats tend to be more critical of their copartisans and Republicans tend to be more supportive as Democratic scandals are often in conflict with the party brand whereas Republican scandals are not.