Employing the American Dream: Partisan Variation in Presidential Rhetoric

Donna Hoffman, Alison Howard

    Research output: Contribution to conferencePresentationpeer-review

    Abstract

    As evidenced by public opinion polling, there is widespread belief in the “American Dream” in the United States. It is, however, an inherently ambiguous concept. It is also a concept with political implications. For example, the American dream can be used to symbolically unify the polity. Rhetorically skillful presidents may employ the concept to attempt to bring the public together, and because it is an ambiguous concept, presidents have an opportunity to shape it to their symbolic purposes. Presidents may also employ the concept in a substantive fashion. We are interested in how presidents have employed this concept by using it as justification for policy requests and proposals that they put forward. Our data will come from three genres of rhetoric (nomination acceptance speeches, inaugural addresses, and State of the Union addresses) from 1964 to 2015. Both symbolic and substantive references to the dream concept will be analyzed, using the sentence as the unit of analysis. We hypothesize that all presidents will employ dream rhetoric, but that there will be partisan differences in whether the concept is applied in a positive (asserting the endurance of the dream) or negative fashion (pointing out the dream is falling short). We also expect to see Democratic presidents emphasizing the role government plays in aiding the American dream, while Republican presidents asserting that individuals and non-governmental organizations are key. Finally, we also examine the policy implications of American dream rhetoric. Are policies framed with dream rhetoric more likely to be enacted? By answering this question, one can assess how effective such a rhetorical strategy really is. In addition, how presidents use the dream will shed light on whether there are distinct partisan, personal, and/or time-bound differences in presidential rhetoric.
    Original languageAmerican English
    StateUnpublished - 2016
    EventAmerican Political Science Association's Annual Meeting - Philadelphia, United States
    Duration: Sep 1 2016Sep 4 2016

    Conference

    ConferenceAmerican Political Science Association's Annual Meeting
    Abbreviated titleAPSA
    Country/TerritoryUnited States
    CityPhiladelphia
    Period9/1/169/4/16

    Keywords

    • presidential rhetoric

    Disciplines

    • American Politics

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