Presidential Campaigns Made by Candidates’ Spouses in 2008 and 2016: a Comparative Study

• Authors: Marta Morawska

Title variants

PL

Udział współmałżonek kandydatów w prowadzeniu kampanii prezydenckich w 2008 roku i 2016 roku: analiza porównawcza

• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Each presidential candidate in modern political campaigns in the United States needs to have a spouse behind their back. The involvement of recent candidates’ spouses like Michelle Obama and Melania Trump provides researchers with a fresh picture of how a future first lady should or should not behave during campaigning. The interesting matter would be in this article to compare those two candidates’ spouses. Their activities and behavior during their first presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2016 will show the differences in Democratic and Republican form of campaigning. The study aims to observe certain regularity in the treatment of spouses during presidential campaigns in the United States. Its goal is to answer what kind of future presidential spousal behavior during campaign is more desirable in order to achieve as many votes as possible. The paper is based on qualitative analysis of already existing data compiled during both elections, as well as critical reading of the literature of the subject. To elaborate, the author will mostly compare the political positions of those two future first ladies – Michelle Obama and Melania Trump – during the mentioned campaigning periods, and also by statistics relating to their presence in media and public appearances.

PL

Każdy kandydat na prezydenta w Stanach Zjednoczonych powinien pokazywać się podczas kampanii wyborczej z żoną u boku. Zaangażowanie pierwszych dam takich jak Michelle Obama czy Melania Trump w kampanie prezydenckie ich mężów daje badaczom współczesny obraz przyszłej pierwszej damy i możliwość badania bardziej lub mniej pożądanych zachowań podczas kampanii wyborczych. Celem niniejszego artykułu będzie porównanie obu wymienionych wyżej żon kandydatów na urząd prezydenta w Stanach Zjednoczonych. Porównanie ich działalności i zachowań podczas pierwszych prezydenckich kampanii ich mężów tj. w 2008 roku i 2016 roku unaoczni różnice w traktowaniu żony kandydata podczas kampanii prezydenckiej w obozie Demokratów i Republikanów. Celem badania jest zaobserwowanie pewnych prawidłowości w sposobie traktowania żon kandydatów na prezydenta podczas kampanii wyborczych, jak również odpowiedź na pytanie czy istnieje bardziej lub mniej pożądane zachowanie „pierwszych żon”, które to przysparza kandydatowi jak najwięcej wyborczych głosów. Artykuł oparty jest na jakościowej analizie istniejących danych zgromadzonych podczas wyborów w 2008 roku oraz w 2016 roku, jak również na krytycznej analizie istniejącej literatury przedmiotu. W celu rozwinięcia powyższych metod autor dokona porównania politycznych pozycji przyszłych pierwszych dam – Michelle Obamy i Melanii Trump podczas wspomnianego okresu kampanii prezydenckich, także poprzez zebranie statystyk obrazujących ich obecność w mediach oraz podczas publicznych wystąpień.

Keywords

EN

presidential campaign; presidential spouses; Democratic Party; Republican Party; candidates’ spouses; presidential campaign; presidential spouses; Democratic Party; Republican Party; candidates’ spouses

PL

kampania prezydencka; żona prezydenta; Partia Demokratyczna; Partia Republikańska; żona kandydata

• Publisher: Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
• Journal: Przegląd Politologiczny
• Year: 2020
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 53-69

Dates

published

2020-09-15

Contributors

author

Marta Morawska

• Uniwersytet Jagielloński

• https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3423-7666

References

• Bankert A. (2020), Negative and Positive Partisanship in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Elections, “Political Behavior”.
• Barbara Bush beats Michelle Obama in popularity poll (2014), “Asian News International Retrieved”, 5.03.2014.
• Borrelli M. A. (2011), The Politics of the President’s Wife. College Station, Texas A&M University Press.
• Burns L. M. (2020), Media Relations and the Modern First Lady: From Jacqueline Kennedy to Melania Trump, Lexington Books, Maryland.
• Burrell B., Elder L., Frederick B. (2011), From Hillary to Michelle: Public Opinion and the Spouses of Presidential Candidates, “Presidential Studies Quarterly”, vol. 41, no. 1.
• Bradner E. (2016), Melania Trump: Donald Trump was ‘egged on’ into ‘boy talk’, 17.10.2016, Cnnpolitics.com, https://edition.cnn.com/2016/10/17/politics/melania-trump-interview/index.html, 10.12.2019.
• Brown N. (2014), Sisters in the Statehouse: Black Women and Legislative Decision, Making, Oxford University Press, New York.
• Brzezinski M. (2016), Morning Joe, MSNBC.com, 24.02.2016, https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/02/24/mika_brzezinski_interviews_melania_trump_.html, 12.12.2019.
• Caldwell A. (2016), Melania Trump Modeled in US Prior to Getting Work Visa, “Associated Press”, 5.11.2016, https://apnews.com/37dc7aef0ce44077930b7436be7bfd0d. 12.12.2019.
• Caroli B. (2010), First Ladies: From Martha Washington to Michelle Obama, Oxford University Press, New York.
• Collar Counties (2005), in: Encyclopedia of Chicago, http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/3.html, 12.12.2019.
• Doherty C. (2018), For most Trump Voters ‘Very Warm’ Feelings for Him Endured, people-press.org, 9.08.2018, https://www.people-press.org/2018/08/09/for-most-trump-voters-very-warm-feelings-for-him-endured/, 10.12.2019.
• Dugan A. (2018), Hillary Clinton’s Favorable Rating Still Low, Gallup.com, 28.08.2018, https://news.gallup.com/poll/243242/snapshot-hillary-clinton-favorable-rating-low.aspx, 10.10.2019.
• Gold H. (2014), Bush speechwriter: Obama plagiarized Bush, Politico.com, 29.01.2014, https://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2014/01/bush-speechwriter-obama-plagiarized-bush-182184, 10.10.2019.
• Elder L., Frederick B., Burrell B. (2018), American Presidential Candidate Spouses, Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
• Friedman V. (2016), In the Final Presidential Debate, the Trumps Go Dark, “The New York Times”, 20.10.2016.
• Gambino L. (2016), Melania Trump takes on cyberbullying: , “The Guardian”, 3.11.2016.
• Haberman M., Barbaro M. (2016), How Melania Trump’s Speech Veered Off Course and Caused an Uproar, “The New York Times”, 19.07.2016.
• Henderson N. (2009), Michelle Obama’s poll numbers slid, Politico.com, 11.09.2009, https://www.politico.com/story/2009/11/michelle-obamas-poll-numbers-slide-029347, 2.02.2020.
• How Groups Voted in 2008 (2008), Roper Center, https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/how-groups-voted-2008, 9.12.2019.
• Ioffe J. (2016), Melania Trump on Her Rise, Her Family Secrets, and Her True Political Views: ‘Nobody Will Ever Know’, “GQ Magazine”, 27.04.2016.
• Jones J. (2008), Obama Rated as Winner of Second Presidential Debate, Gallup.com, 9.10.2008, https://news.gallup.com/poll/111058/obama-rated-winner-second-presidential-debate.aspx, 12.12.2019.
• Jones (2012), Michelle Obama Remains Popular in U.S, Gallup.com, 30.05.2012, https://news.gallup.com/poll/154952/michelle-obama-remains-popular.aspx, 08.12.2019.
• Jordan M., McCrummen S. (2016), After Convention Stumble Melania Trump has Largely Stumbled From Campaign Trail, “Washington Post”, 8.08.2016.
• Kaufman J., Langley M. (2008), With Monday Speech, Michelle Obama Seeks Reintroduction, “The Wall Street Journal”, 26.08.2008.
• Kelley A. (2016), Section Of Melania Trump’s Monday Speech Mirrors Michelle Obama’s In 2008, https://www.npr.org/2016/07/19/486560186/section-of-melania-trumps-monday-speech-closely-imitates-michelle-obama-in-2008.
• Lizza R. (2016), Three Problems with the Melania Trump Plagiarism Admission, “The New Yorker”, 20.07.2016, https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/three-problems-with-the-melania-trump-plagiarism-admission, 10.10.2019.
• MacManus S., Quecan A. (2008), Spouses as Campaign Surrogates: Strategic Appearances by Presidential and Vice Presidential Candidates’ Wives in the 2004 Election, “Political Science & Politics”, vol. 42, no. 2, pp. 337–348.
• MacAskill E. (2008), Michelle Obama speaks of Barack’s qualities as a man, husband and father, “The Guardian”, 26.08.2008, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/aug/26/michelleobama.democrats2008, 5.02.2020.
• Mandziuk R. (2017), Whither the Good Wife? 2016 Presidential Candidate Spouses in the Gendered Spaces of Contemporary Politics, “Quarterly Journal of Speech”, vol. 103, no. 1–2, pp. 136–159.
• Mast N., Hargis C. (2016), Here’s Who’s Defending Melania Trump’s Plagiarized Speech And Who’s Calling It Out, 19.07.2016, https://www.mediamatters.org/laura-ingraham/heres-whos-defending-melania-trumps-plagiarized-speech-and-whos-calling-it-out, 2.03.2020.
• Michelle Obama shows her husband’s personal side (2008), thecurrent.org, 25.08.2008, https://www.thecurrent.org/feature/2008/08/25/michelle_obama_speech, 28.12.2019.
• McCarthy, Michelle Obama More Popular Than Bill Clinton, Melania Trump, Gallup.com, 12.08.2016, https://news.gallup.com/poll/194567/michelle-obama-popular-bill-clinton-melania-trump.aspx, 5.12.2019.
• Newport F. (ed.) (2018), The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion 2016, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Maryland.
• Obama M. (2008), Michelle Obama’s Convention Speech, 25.08,2008, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93963863&t=1585392509836, 3.12.2019.
• Obama M. (2018), Becoming, Crown Publishing Group, New York.
• Oinounou M., Kapp B. (2015), Michelle Obama Takes Heat for Saying She’s ‘Proud of My Country’ for the First Time, foxnews.com, 19.02.2008, https://www.foxnews.com/story/michelle-obama-takes-heat-for-saying-shes-proud-of-my-country-for-the-first-time, 7.02.2020.
• Peters J. W., Haberman M. (2016), At previous debates, Melania Trump and Bill Clinton shook hands. Not Anymore, “New York Times”, 8.10.2016.
• Political Figures: Michelle Obama (2019), Polling Report, https://www.pollingreport.com/o.htm, 7.01.2020.
• Rappeport A. (2016), Melania Trump, Solo in Pennsylvania, Tries to Smooth Husband’s Rough Edges, “The New York Times”, 3.11.2016.
• Rosenthal A. (2016), Melania Trump Mimics Hillary Clinton to Defend Donald Trump, “The New York Times”, 19.10.2016.
• Saad L. (2016), Melania Trump’s Image Less Positive than Other Spouses, Gallup.com, 18.07.2016, https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/193793/melania-trump-image-problem-democrats-independents.aspx, 5.01.2020.
• Scharrer E., Bissell K. (2000), Overcoming Traditional Boundaries: The Role of Political Activity in Media Coverage of First Ladies, “Women & Politics”, vol. 21, no. 1.
• Schreckinger B., Debenedetti G. (2016), Gaps in Melania Trump’s Immigration Story Raise Questions, Politico.com, 4.08.2016, https://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/melania-trump-immigration-donald-226648, 15.02.2020.
• Smith D. (2016), Melania Trump’s Republican convention speech: so good it was recited twice, 19.07.2016, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/19/melania-trump-speech-republican-national-convention, 5.02.2020.
• Trump M. (2016), Tweet published 14.09.2016, https://twitter.com/MELANIATRUMP/status/776050512772886529/photo/2.
• Uffalussy J. G. (2016), Melania and Ivanka Trump Wear Symbolic Color to Third Debate, Says Social Media, YahooNews.com, 20.10.2016, https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/melania-and-ivanka-are-wearing-a-symbolic-color-to-the-third-debate-say-social-media-020522709, 12.01.2020.
• We’d like to get your overall opinion of some people in the news (2018), CNN/SSRS Poll, http://cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2018/images/05/07/rel5a.-.melania.trump.pdf, 14.01.2020.
• Williams V. (2009), The First (Black) Lady, “Denver University Law Review”, vol. 86, pp. 833–850.
• Wright L. (2016), On Behalf of the President: Presidential Spouses and White House Communications Strategy Today, Praeger, Westport.
• Wright L. (2017), Melania Trump Refuses to Act Like a First Lady. Good for Her, “Washington Post”, 19.01.2017.
• Zhang L. (2017), The Soft Power of a First Lady – Constructing Identities for First Ladies in the Chinese and American Media, “Discourse, Context & Media”, vol. 20, pp. 33–44.

Identifiers

DOI

10.14746/pp.2020.25.3.5