Truth About Political Campaigns

Running head: TRUTH ABOUT POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS
TRUTH ABOUT POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS
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TRUTH ABOUT POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS
Answer to question 1:
On fulfilling the campaign promises by the politicians, Patterson states that they fail a
few times because of the lies they tell during those campaigns. He provides the instance of a
candidate lying about taking an action during the campaign, which he has no intention to fulfill
and deceives voters into believing the lie and votes the candidate. However, he asserts that
presidential candidates mostly succeed in fulfilling their promises as they act on those promises
after being elected. He states, “Candidates are not empty vessels who have no ideas about policy
and no plans about what to do with the political power” (Patterson). He states that candidates
profit more from keeping their promises rather than breaking those.
Answer to question 2:
In Patterson’s views, the press or the media conveys more negative news than it conveys
positive news to the voters. He gives evidence of this in the 1992 presidential election when the
press focused only the promises that Clinton broke after his election. In addition, the press
highlighted the instances where Clinton had to consult with the Congress. On the contrary,
Clinton had kept several promises he made during the campaign, which included sending
humanitarian relief to Bosnia, increase in tax for upper-income payers and so on. The press
hardly conveyed these fulfilled promises to the voters.
Answer to question 3:
Patterson argues that the press is indulged more into conveying ‘bad news’ about the
presidential candidates than it has in conveying ‘good news’. He states that the press has an
unfair perception of the American presidents as it compares them to the European prime
ministers who, in contrast to the US presidents, have ready-made majority of the legislative to