Reaching Out to Latino Voters: A Systematic Analysis of Senate Political Advertisements and Legislative Activities
This research focused on understanding how U.S. senators reach out to Latino voters during their campaigns and in their legislative activity. Senate candidates use different avenues to maximize their chances of victory. In their quest for victory, multiple appeals reach voters via different media; one such appeal is made through television advertising. Televised political advertisements play an integral role in U.S. Senate campaigns because of their effectiveness in swaying voters. With an increasing Latino voting bloc, the question of what Senate candidates are doing is worthy of examination. It is important to systematically examine candidates' political advertisements and explore what issues, images, and language are used to court Latino voters. I content analyzed winning candidates' televised advertisements to see if senators remain active in reaching out to Latinos during their legislative activities. I also analyzed the legislative activity of senators by looking at their sponsorships, co-sponsorships, and voting card scores provided by the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA). I placed an emphasis on these variables in legislation because of the growing need to study the campaign appeals senators make and whether they translate into meaningful activity during their time in Congress.
School:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Department:
Political Science and Speech Communication
Research Advisor:
Tracy Sulkin
Department of Research Advisor:
Political Science
Year of Publication:
2007