American Presidential Campaigns in the Attention Economy

This Element documents the power and limits of attention-getting campaign strategies in today's social-media-driven attention economy.

In the social media era, people and organizations fight over the public's attention. This competition is especially intense in US presidential campaigns. As someone who used attention-grabbing strategies throughout his career, Donald Trump's communication skills suited this environment. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.In the social media era, people and organizations increasingly fight over the public's attention. This competition is especially intense in American presidential campaigns. As someone who used attention-grabbing strategies throughout his career, Donald Trump's communication skills were well suited to this environment. His campaigns illustrate the power and limits of attention-grabbing campaign tactics. While he successfully dominated the public's attention in his presidential campaigns, people consistently consumed more negative than positive information about him. Additionally, in this era, the campaign media system and the public continue to focus on incumbent performance, resisting efforts to change the subject. Finally, the editorial decisions that prestigious news outlets make about what to cover still seem to shape which stories people hear about in the crucial final weeks of the campaign. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.