Abstract
This chapter provides a detailed discussion of the media-related characteristics of American election campaigns. Six major traits of elections in the digital era are identified: (1) technology-driven campaigning, (2) voter digital engagement, (3) hyper-personalized campaigning, (4) expanded campaign professionalization, (5) rampant polling and horserace media coverage, and (6) negativity and incivility. These developments are traced from the early days of the new media era to the present day.
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Owen, D. (2018). Characteristics of US Elections in the Digital Media Age. In: Kiyohara, S., Maeshima, K., Owen, D. (eds) Internet Election Campaigns in the United States, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Political Campaigning and Communication. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63682-5_2
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