Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-04T13:25:31.506Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Dog that Didn't Bark: The Role of Canines in the 2008 Campaign

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 October 2010

Diana C. Mutz
Diana C. Mutz
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Using the most extensive dataset available on the 2008 election, I examine the impact of dog ownership on presidential vote preference. Canines were elevated to the status of a campaign issue when, during the 2008 campaign, Barack Obama publicly promised his daughters a dog after the election was over, a campaign promise that has since been fulfilled. However, this announcement appears to have unintentionally highlighted the absence of a key point of potential identification between this candidate and voters, and thus to have significantly undermined the likelihood that dog-owning voters would support Obama. I elaborate upon the implications of this finding for future presidential candidates.

Type
Features
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 43 , Issue 4 , October 2010 , pp. 707 - 712
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Associated Press. 2008. “Among U.S. Pet Owners, McCain Is Best in Show. Poll: Republican Who Boasts Menagerie Is Preferred by Animal Lovers.” MSNBC, July 8. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25581603/.Google Scholar
Bartels, Larry. 1988. Presidential Primaries and the Dynamics of Public Choice. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broughton, Kris. 2009. “The Obama's Vietnamese Water Torture Dog.” Talking Points Memo [blog]. http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/kris_broughton/2009/04/the-obamas-vietnamese-water-to.php.Google Scholar
Davis, Gibbs. 2004. Wackiest White House Pets. New York: Scholastic Press.Google Scholar
Johnston, Richard. 2008. “Modeling Campaign Dynamics on the Web in the 2008 National Annenberg Election Study.” Journal of Elections, Public Opinion & Parties 18 (4): 401–12.Google Scholar
My Dog Votes. 2006. “Dog Owners Key to Local Elections—My Dog Votes Announces Results Of Political Opinion Survey.” My Dog Votes [blog], October 29. http://www.dogpolitics.com/my_dog_votes_blog/2006/10/dog_owners_key_.html#more.Google Scholar
Pellissier, Hank. 2004. “All the Presidents' Pets.” Presidential Pet Museum. http://www.presidentialpetmuseum.com/All_The_Presidents_Pets.htm.Google Scholar
Presidential Pets Museum. 2010. http://www.presidentialpetmuseum.com/index.htm.Google Scholar
Rowan, Roy, and Janis, Brooke. 1997. First Dogs: American Presidents and Their Best Friends. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin.Google Scholar
Schmid, Randolph E. 2008. “Pet Owners Prefer McCain over Obama.” Associated Press, July 8. http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/07/in_poll_of_pet_owners_mccain_t.php.Google Scholar
Stregowski, Jenna. 2008. “Barack Obama: Does it Really Matter that He has No Pets?” http://dogs.about.com/b/2008/08/10/barack-obama-does-it-really-matter-that-he-has-no-pets.htm.Google Scholar
Tajfel, H., Billig, M., Bundy, R. P., and Flament, C.. 1971. “Social Categorization and Intergroup Behaviour.” European Journal of Social Psychology 2: 149–78.Google Scholar
Wikipedia. 2008. “United States Presidential Pets.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_pets.Google Scholar