Masking the Second Amendment: Issue agenda building during the 2020 American presidential election

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dc.contributor.authorShaughnessy, Brittany Roseen
dc.contributor.committeechairTedesco, John C.en
dc.contributor.committeememberHaenschen, Katherineen
dc.contributor.committeememberDuncan, Megan A.en
dc.contributor.departmentCommunicationen
dc.coverage.countryUnited Statesen
dc.date.accessioned2021-06-11T08:00:49Zen
dc.date.available2021-06-11T08:00:49Zen
dc.date.issued2021-06-10en
dc.description.abstractThis study content analyzed interest group and candidate tweets from the 2020 American presidential election to determine what issues and substantive attributes were most salient on interest group and candidate agendas during the "hot phase" of the campaign. Cross-lagged correlations were conducted during two time periods from Labor Day to Election Day 2020 to measure agenda building effects. These tests were conducted for Democratic nominee and eventual President Joe R. Biden, and Republican nominee and former President Donald J. Trump. These tests were also conducted for two issue-based interest groups: Everytown for Gun Safety and the National Rifle Association. Findings indicate that Biden influenced Trump's campaign agenda, but Trump did not influence Biden's. The interest groups showed reciprocal influence with each other. Given the unprecedented nature of the 2020 election, the candidates were largely talking about the same issues. However, substantive attributes reveal the candidates' true issue agenda. This study offers methodological innovation by utilizing NVivo for content analysis.en
dc.description.abstractgeneralThis study examined tweets from 2020 presidential candidates Donald J. Trump and Joseph R. Biden, as well as the National Rifle Association, a gun rights advocacy organization, and Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control advocacy organization. These tweets were examined from September 7 to November 3, 2020, from Labor Day until Election Day. For the presidential candidates, it was found that although candidates were talking the same general campaign issues, they were using different substantive attributes when speaking of them. The findings also revealed that Biden was successful at influencing Trump's Twitter focus during the examined time period. Tweets from advocacy organizations were tested for presence of gun-related issues. The advocacy organizations spoke about the same issues as the other, but neither group was successful at influencing what the other said. This study highlights the importance of digital political public relations.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Artsen
dc.format.mediumETDen
dc.identifier.othervt_gsexam:31205en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/103776en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectAgenda settingen
dc.subjectpresidential politicsen
dc.subjectTwitteren
dc.subjecttweetsen
dc.subjectpolitical public relationsen
dc.subjectcontent analysisen
dc.subjectsubstantive attributesen
dc.titleMasking the Second Amendment: Issue agenda building during the 2020 American presidential electionen
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplineCommunicationen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Artsen

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