Issue ownership in the 2016 presidential debates

ABSTRACT

Political debates are a firmly established component of contemporary election campaigns. Issue Ownership Theory provides a framework for exploring the issues emphasized in election campaign messages including debates. He argues that the two major political parties have developed reputations for being better able to handle different sets of issues (issue ownership). For example, more people believe that Democrats are better able to deal with environmental issues than Republicans; and the Grand Old Party (GOP) is thought by more citizens to be better able to handle foreign policy issues. Petrocik argues that presidential candidates are prone to stress issues owned by their own political party more than opposing party candidates emphasizing those issues (so, Democrats discuss Democratic issues more – and Republican issues less – than Republicans). This study tests the Issue Ownership Theory with the 2016 presidential primary and general campaign debates. The data from both primary and general debates support the Issue Ownership predictions.

KEYWORDS:

• Issue Ownership Theory
• 2016 presidential primary debates
• 2016 general election debates
• Hillary Clinton
• Donald Trump

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

William L. Benoit

William L. Benoit is a Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Alabama, Birmingham.