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

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

Author(s): Marta Morawska
Subject(s): Electoral systems
Published by: Uniwersytet Adama Mickiewicza
Keywords: presidential campaign; presidential spouses; Democratic Party; Republican Party; candidates’ spouses

Summary/Abstract: 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.

  • Issue Year: 2020
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 53-69
  • Page Count: 17
  • Language: English