Pika and Maltese Chapter 3

People develop attitudes towards three major components of a political system:1. Their political community2. The political regime3. Authorities

• Presidents are seen as the leader of the political community—a figurehead or symbol of the nation.

• Presidents can benefit from upholding the accepted rules of the game or be punished for violating them.

• Presidents are major actors in the policy-making process.

Fred Greenstein argues that presidents meet a variety of psychological needs of the citizenry.◦ The president can serve as a cognitive aid helping

make government and politics more understandable. How?

◦ The president also helps serve as an outlet for feelings experienced by supporters or opponents. Think of the Bush to Sarah Palin phenomenon.

◦ Some people live vicariously through the president, fostering a desire to identify with powerful people.

◦ In some cases, presidents resemble national unity and stability.

◦ Presidents can serve as lighting rods, figures to blame for bad times and credit for good times.

People will respond favorably/unfavorably to the presidents policy victories/failures.

They will also respond to his personality and political style and to the events that occur while the president is in office.

People also assess presidents by how they interact with certain groups. Like what?

The presidency is covered in symbolism. What are some of the examples discussed

in the text? How do these affect public attitudes

towards the president?

First, let’s look at some polls. How does the president use polls?

What is the decay curve? Why do you think it happens? Example(s)?

What events can increase a president’s popularity? What can decrease it?

The “Rhetorical Presidency” is a relatively new phenomenon.

While the founders believed that public consent was a requirement of republican government, they wanted to protect government from the whims of the public.

Therefore, pre-20th century presidents rarely appealed to the public for their support.

Most scholars agree that Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson were the catalysts that changed all that.

Over time, presidents began using their “bully pulpit” even more.

Appeals for public support are now a routine part of presidential governance.

Presidents can use public approval as a “bargaining chip” with Congress.

This is not just limited to the use of television or radio as means to reach the public.

What are some of the ways President Obama is attempting to reach the public, outside of television and radio?

What about going international? Presidents also use other individuals

(surrogates) within their administration to speak to the people.

The goal is to convey a carefully orchestratedmessage that is reinforced by different

peoplein a variety of contexts.

Today, most people get their political information from what major source?

So, much of the information people get about the president depends on the content of local news coverage and that of the cable news networks.

What are some of the positives of this?

What are some of the drawbacks?

Additionally, the white house press corps play an important role in what information the public receives about the president.

They attend pretty much everything a president does, not to mention that they travel almost exclusively with the president.

While less and less people read newspapers every day, they can still drive the media coverage we see on television.

However, what are some of the advantages TV has over newspapers in relaying news and information to the public? What are some of the disadvantages?

Where does the internet stand in comparison to these other two?

All of this leads to the evolution of the presidency constantly being in a state of permanent campaign.

There’s a nice quote on the next slide

Permanent campaign is shorthand for anemergent pattern of political management that

the body politic did not plan, debate, orformally adopt. It is a work of inadvertence,

something developed higgledy-piggledy since

the middle of the twentieth-century. Thepermanent campaign comprises the complexity

mixture of politically sophisticated people, communication techniques, and

organizations—profit and nonprofit alike. What ties the pieces together is the continuous

and voracious quest for public approval.—Hugh Heclo

Is this good or bad for our political system?