The rise and fall of candidate Perot: Unmediated versus mediated politics—Part I

Abstract

The article uses Ross Perot's campaign for president in 1992 as a case study in how two key political institutions, the conventional political press and the party system, mediate the effects of political communication. From an analysis of events in both the spring of 1992 and the general election, the Texan was highly effective when he could appeal to voters in an essentially unmediated fashion. His candidacy failed, however, because it could not deal effectively with the political institutions by which the United States customarily selects its presidents. For example, Perot's appearances on morning interview programs persuaded roughly 20 percent of those seeing them to support his candidacy. Because the audiences for these shows were relatively small, however, Perot's initial rise in the polls and his subsequent decline were driven mainly by coverage in the conventional press. Part I of the article deals with the earliest, relatively unmediated phase of Perot's campaign and the take‐off phase of the mediated campaign. Part II, to be published in the next issue of Political Communication, deals with the remainder of the campaign, including the general election.

Keywords:

• Perot
• presidential politics
• press
• public opinion