Description

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Leading scholars analyze three disruptions in the 2020 presidential campaign and election: disruptions to the status quo caused by the renewed quest for racial justice and greater diversity of candidates; pandemic disruptions to traditional campaigning; and disruptions to democratic norms.

Democracy Disrupted documents the most significant features of the 2020 U.S. presidential election through research conducted by leading scholars in political communication. Chapters consider the coinciding of three historical events in 2020: a 100-year pandemic co-occurring with the presidential campaign, the reinvigorated call for social and racial justice in response to the killing of George Floyd and other Black men and women, and the authoritarian lurch that emerged in reaction to Donald Trump's norm-challenging rhetoric. The Democratic Party's campaign stood out because of the historically diverse field of presidential candidates and the election of the first female vice president.

Chapter authors adopt diverse scientific methodologies and field-leading theories of political communication to understand the way these events forced candidates, campaigns, and voters to adapt to these extraordinary circumstances. Experiments, surveys, case studies, and textual analysis illuminate essential features of this once-in-a-generation campaign. This timely volume is edited by four scholars who have been central to describing and contextualizing each recent presidential contest.

About the Author

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Benjamin R. Warner, PhD, is associate professor of communication and director of graduate studies at the University of Missouri. Dianne G. Bystrom, PhD, is director emerita of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University. Mitchell S. McKinney, PhD, is dean of the Buchtel College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Akron. Mary C. Banwart, PhD, is associate professor of communication studies at the University of Kansas, director of the Institute for Leadership Studies, and program director for the Women's Global Leadership Consortium.