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The Public between elections:

The Public between elections:. A Check on Presidential Power?. Bush’s job approval (CNN/USAToday/Gallup). Bush’s job approval CBS/NYTimes poll 10/14/2008. Why do presidents’ job approval ratings go up and down?. How do people form opinions about the president’s job performance?.

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The Public between elections:

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  1. The Public between elections: A Check on Presidential Power?

  2. Bush’s job approval (CNN/USAToday/Gallup)

  3. Bush’s job approvalCBS/NYTimes poll 10/14/2008

  4. Why do presidents’ job approval ratings go up and down?

  5. How do people form opinions about the president’s job performance? Partisanship The economy

  6. How do people form opinions about the president’s job performance? Partisanship The economy News about outcomes

  7. How do people form opinions about the president’s job performance? Partisanship The economy News about outcomes Rally effects

  8. What are the consequences of changes in presidential approval ratings? • Can affect relationships with members of Congress • Can affect presidential strategy • Can have electoral impacts

  9. How do Presidents try to manipulate public opinion to their advantage?

  10. Going Public • A strategy whereby the president promotes himself and his policies in Washington by appealing to the American public for support

  11. TR on his relationship with Republicans in the Senate “Gradually I was forced to abandon the effort to persuade them to come my way, and then I achieved results only by appealing over the heads of the Senate and House leaders to the people, who were the masters of both of us.” --The Works of Theodore Roosevelt (20: 342)

  12. Why is Going Public a more common strategy in the late 20th Century? • Rise in presidential travel • Rise in accessible communications (TV) • Rise in animosity of national press • Declining number of people watching major television addresses • Move from institutionalized pluralism to individualized pluralism

  13. Public Appearances of Presidents (in and out of Washington), from Going Public

  14. Presidential Addresses (from Going Public)

  15. Going Public: Bush gets great press in the San Francisco Chronicle for a minor local speech, May 3, 2003.

  16. How do Presidents try to manipulate public opinion to their advantage?

  17. Organization of the White House/ Executive Office of the President • Office of Communications • Office of Public Liasion • Office of Public Affairs • Political Advisers on staff

  18. Doonesbury 5/1/03

  19. Rally effects

  20. Bush’s job approval (CNN/USAToday/Gallup)

  21. Bush’s job approval (CNN/USAToday/Gallup) Saddam Hussein found in hole Terrorist Attacks Invasion of Iraq

  22. What is a rally effect? • A sudden and substantial increase in public approval • In response to dramatic international events

  23. What creates a rally? • Major military developments (positive) • Summits • Sudden military interventions • Major diplomatic actions • Dramatic technological developments • Attacks on American soil

  24. Why? • Invokes patriotism • Invoke head of state role • Depend on reaction of partisan opponents

  25. Consequences • No long term effects for president or party • Short term effects can impact elections

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