Communication and Midterm Elections ― Media, Message, and Mobilization

This book offers a comprehensive examination of contemporary US midterm elections through the lens of communications and media coverage. Using a wide variety of methods, this contributed volume covers the challenges unique to midterm elections. In the US, midterm elections do not receive the same amount of media attention and voter participation as presidential elections, yet their outcomes often have significant consequences.

This edited collection closely examines 2014 midterm election trends in media, messaging, and mobilization. The 2014 midterm election yielded several important trends, headlines, and milestones: Democrats suffered significant and humbling defeats, historically low turnout propelled a sweeping Republican wave, billions of dollars were spent airing millions of ads, unprecedented amounts of 'dark money' linked to outside groups was used to buy television advertisements, working-class white voters continued their decades-long defection from the Democratic Party, and Republicans devoted substantial time and resources to catch up with Democrats in the use of digital and social media.Communication and Midterm Elections includes top scholars from leading research institutions using various research methodologies to generate new understandings—both theoretical and practical—for students, researchers, journalists, and practitioners.

John Allen Hendricks (Ph.D., The University of Southern Mississippi) is Chair and Professor of Mass Communication at Stephen F. Austin State University, USA. He has authored/edited nine books including Presidential Campaigning and Social Media: An Analysis of the 2012 Campaign (with Dan Schill 2014), Communicator-in-Chief: How Barack Obama Used New Media Technology to Win the White House (with Robert E. Denton, Jr. 2010), and Techno Politics in Presidential Campaigning: New Voices, New Technologies, and New Voters (with Lynda Lee Kaid 2010).

Dan Schill (Ph.D., University of Kansas) is Associate Professor in the School of Communication Studies at James Madison University, USA where he teaches courses in advocacy, political communication, and media and politics. He has published two books on political communication topics, including Presidential Campaigning and Social Media: An Analysis of the 2012 Campaign (with John Allen Hendricks 2014) and Stagecraft and Statecraft: Advance and Media Events in Political Communication (2009). Schill was a 2009-2010 American Political Science Association (APSA) Congressional Fellow and often conducts dial focus groups for news organizations.