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Most Americans are keenly aware of the costs political corruption extracts on system support, fiscal policies and economic development, and ultimately, government effectiveness. Among a list of 10 challenges facing the nation, the public ranks political corruption as the nation's biggest crisis Samussen (2019). Importantly, this issue cuts across partisan and demographic lines. Members of both political parties and independents consistently cite political corruption as a serious problem facing the country.

However, there is a specific kind of political corruption that is disturbing for the health of American democracy – the corruption of Congress. Most Americans appear to have little faith in lawmakers to do the right thing. Majorities believe that Congress is out of touch with average Americans, focused on the needs of special interests, and is corrupt. To be sure, political corruption severely undermines government legitimacy and weakens the development of political, economic, and social structures. This chapter considers the problem of congressional corruption including what forms it takes, where it arises, what anti-corruption reforms are needed, and what these findings mean for the future of American democracy. More specifically, this chapter will permit us to examine if and how perceptions of congressional corruption influence citizens' interactions with government and provide a better understanding of citizens' policy preferences for regulating political corruption.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the rhetoric and reality of the impact of political blogs in the specific context of American politics, where online, mainstream media and academic accounts suggest blogs have had significant impacts on political communication.

This paper examines three high profile events in which blogging has been implicated as particularly influential, and re‐evaluates them in the context of established political science approaches. These events are the resignation of Trent Lott in 2002; Howard Dean's presidential campaign of 2003‐2004; and the Connecticut primary challenge to Joe Lieberman in the 2006 Senate mid‐term elections.

Re‐evaluating these cases in the context of established theories of American politics suggests that the perception of blogs as a progressive new force, that can be decisive in a politician's success or failure, is an over‐optimistic and over‐simplified interpretation of the nature and consequences of this new form of political communication.

This paper provides a much needed first step in integrating the rhetoric of commentary on blogs in American politics with established political science, allowing for a more balanced and contextual consideration of the political roles of blogs than that provided by the blogosphere and its proponents to date.

Opportunities to observe presidential leadership capacities and to be an active citizen in appraising presidential leadership practices have increased the relevance of perceptions of candidates’ leadership qualities in presidential and campaign politics. Based on prior evidence, the current study predicted and confirmed that a sample of 1,087 young voter perceptions of presidential candidates’ leadership practices predict intent to vote for a particular candidate after accounting for party affiliation. Additionally, party affiliation was reconfirmed as predicting differences in perceived leadership practices. Interestingly, male and female perceptions of presidential leadership practices varied and were contextualized by factors related to identity development. The study concludes with a discussion of implications as they pertain to leadership theory and leadership education.

In 1968, the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders stated that “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white, separate and unequal.” Forty years later, the first person of African ancestry was elected to the office of the presidency of the United States of America. Have we reached the post-racial, color-blind society that so many have struggled to attain for over 400 years? Have the racially divided views of blacks and whites finally converged? Does the election of Barack Obama provide proof of this convergence? This chapter addresses two questions: (1) In the Obama era, have racial differences in perceptions of racial inequality and justice converged, widened, or stayed the same and (2) Are differences in perceptions of racial inequality and justice primarily race-based, education-based, or both? Overall, our results suggest that (1) with respect to racial inequality and justice attitudes, race continued to be an important determinant of outlooks; (2) blacks at all educational levels continued to be more similar to other blacks with different educational attainments than to whites with educations similar to their own; (3) the black community did not undergo social and political polarization; and (4) socioeconomic standing did not become more important than race as a determinant of the social and political attitudes and outlooks examined. Because blacks have continued to endure conditions that differ from those of other Americans, they continue to apprehend the world in terms that differ from those of the mainstream even during the Obama era.

The research uncovers an increase in the disapproval of Congress and a drop in public trust in government associated with exposed congressional corruption in the post-Watergate era. The tools Congress holds to punish members caught up in scandal are discussed and the chapter considers five major scandals to rock Congress since the 1970s. Importantly, we uncover evidence that government institutions and actors are somewhat resilient and can bounce back after experiencing negative public sentiment for a period of time. Yet, it seems in the aftermath of exposed corruption, the corresponding drop in public support has policy implications. We determine that movement in public disapproval of Congress and overall trust in government help explain public law output and the ability of Congress to pass its contemporary legislative agenda.

The emergence of Barack Obama as the President of the United States is analyzed in the context of theories of racial and ethnic relations. While it is true that social science theory did not predict this event, it is also true that the President's election must be seen in a historical context that has seen only one nonwhite Anglo-Saxon Protestant elected to the highest office in the land. Put differently, the chapter addresses why is it that other white groups have not occupied the highest office in the land? The chapter introduces the concept of “segregated diversity” to capture the crisis of theorizing in race and ethnic relations. Harold Cruse's ideas are utilized to bring some degree of order and understanding of the present issues of America and the realities of segregated diversity.

Purpose – This chapter explores the use of music and celebrity endorsements in political campaigns of the United States. It focuses on two aspects: (1) the legality of a political campaign’s use of music at rallies and in advertisements without authorization from the owner of the musical work and (2) a review of the literature on the potential effect of the use of music in political campaigns on voter behavior.

Design/methodology/approach – A brief history of the use of music in political campaigns precedes an examination of the expansion of copyright law protection for music and the legal claims musicians may raise against the unauthorized use of music by political campaigns. The chapter then reviews the potential effect of political campaigns’ use of music and celebrity endorsements on voter behavior.

Findings – A musician’s primary legal protection falls under copyright law, but the courts disagree on whether the unauthorized use of music at political rallies and in political campaign advertisements results in copyright infringement. Social research suggests music and celebrity endorsements affect voter behavior with a likely greater effect on first-time voters.

Originality/value of chapter – This chapter introduces the complicated application of copyright law to the unauthorized use of musical works by political campaigns. Additionally, it notes the limited research on the effect of music and celebrity endorsements on voter behavior even as political campaigns increasingly target niche demographics with specific music selections to motivate voters to vote.

The main purpose of this study is to reveal how the China factor influences Taiwan voters' evaluations of the two major parties across elections and generations. We contend that 1) elderly Taiwan voters may take the China factor more seriously than younger cohorts, and 2) China factor may be weighted differently depending on the levels of elections. More importantly, we argue that the China factor is tangled with voters' partisanship.

Data gathered from 2008 to 2014 Taiwan's Election and Democratization Study (TEDS) enable in investigating the influence of the China factor on Taiwan people's vote choices in the two local and two presidential elections. To answer the research question, this study applies issue voting theory and the seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) employed for empirical investigations.

The findings of this study provide empirical evidence on how political generations have changed their reactions to China in Taiwan's elections. The fundamental variables, party identification and the China issue are still very important and cannot be disregarded. Specifically, the China factor played a quite influential role in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters' voting decisions regardless of their generations, whereas its effect on the Kuomintang (KMT) supporters' voting decisions varies depending on electoral contexts and generations.

While some scholars might suspect that the single item is not sufficient to be an effective predictor of vote choice, we contend that the China factor is definitely the most significant component in Taiwan's elections, especially when it is tangled with partisanship. The SUR approach in this study confirms that partisanship and the China factor cannot be viewed separately.

The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of voters’ personal and societal values on presidential candidate brand personality preference. In addition, the research examines which brand personalities are deemed most and least important. This research meets the growing demand to further understand how voters develop preferences for brandidates.

Voters ranked which presidential brand personalities they deemed most important in a candidate as well as which of the two major candidates they most associated with that trait. Data were collected weeks in advance of the 2020 presidential election from a national online panel representing a balanced mix of voters by party affiliation.

The results indicate that life satisfaction, political orientation and postmaterialism are significant and provide adequate explanatory power in understanding which brand personality traits are associated with a presidential candidate. Also, using an importance-performance matrix, the authors find which candidate is most identified with various brand personality traits and how important those traits are to voters.

Using the importance-performance matrix for assessing brand/candidate personality preference by consumers/voters provides researchers with a multidimensional method for analyzing how various dimensions influence selection preference. The explanatory power of the independent variables, i.e. political orientation, comparative life satisfaction and societal values, is very low when regressed against personality attributes in general (not assigned to a candidate); however, they provide meaningful results when regressed against personality attributes when assigned to candidates. Understanding the importance of general brand personality attributes is not as important as understanding their importance when associated with a specific brand.

The importance-performance matrix for brand/candidate personality presented in this research clearly indicated and predicted voter preference for the 2020 Presidential election; thus, this tool can be effectively used by political marketers in future elections. Political orientation so strongly influences voter perception of specific candidate brand personality dimensions that they view their preferred candidate to be universally superior to other candidates. Political marketers can appeal to voters based on their political orientation to strengthen the relationship between candidates and voters.

This research investigates how personal and societal values impact voters’ preference for brand personality traits in a presidential candidate. Voter preference for presidential brand personality traits is assessed generically, i.e. not associated with a particular candidate, as well as when they are linked to a specific candidate, i.e. Biden and Trump.

The article seeks to argue for an engaged civil service to foster a vibrant citizenry, essential in and of itself to sustain democracy especially during a time of turmoil.

The article is based on an extensive review of the literature.

Using the US as an example, the author argues that citizens have traditionally engaged in public life when political elites developed the infrastructure required for mass participation. Political elites no longer have an incentive to do so, as they can now pursue their agenda more efficiently through other means. The resulting decline in opportunities for social learning, however, highlights the importance of reinvigorating civil society to one remaining category of political elite – public servants.

A critical review, the article reaffirms the negative consequences of declining civil society at a time when increasingly complex public problems, such as those posed by the global financial and economic crisis, require decisive and collaborative government action.