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Strategic Leaders: Determining Successful Presidential Opinion Leadership Tactics Through Public Appeals 

Author: Brandon Rottinghaus a
Affiliation:   a Department of Political Science, University of Houston,
DOI: 10.1080/10584600903053510
Publication Frequency: 4 issues per year
Published in: journal Political Communication, Volume 26, Issue 3 July 2009 , pages 296 - 316
Formats available: HTML (English) : PDF (English)
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Abstract

Most scholars find presidents generally fail at moving the public's views on policy; however, although presidents may fail at opinion leadership at the aggregate level, examining specific communication tactics may yield a more nuanced view of when presidents succeed or fail at leadership. In this article, using a comprehensive data set spanning 1953 to 2001, several strategic communication tactics through which the president might influence temporary opinion movement are examined. Findings show that presidential use of nationally televised addresses is the most consistently effective strategy to enhance presidential leadership, but the effect is lessened for later serving presidents. Strategies involving domestic travel never positively affect leadership, while televised interactions with the media always negatively affect leadership success. The cumulative results imply that presidents can momentarily lead public opinion with particular tactics and that the conditions enhancing leadership are partially in their control, suggesting presidential capability to strategically lead public opinion.
Keywords: presidential leadership; speeches; public opinion; oval office address; state of the union
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