Date Available
11-10-2017
Year of Publication
2017
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Document Type
Doctoral Dissertation
College
Arts and Sciences
Department/School/Program
Political Science
First Advisor
Dr. Richard Waterman
Abstract
What is the importance of political speechmaking? Do state governors discuss presidential priorities? This study addresses these questions by analyzing the contents of annual State of the State addresses given by governors from 2012 to 2014 during the presidency of Barack Obama. A descriptive paper provides evidence that governors primarily discuss employment and economic issues in their addresses, are discussing greater number of policy issues than in previous decades, and are delivering their address before the presidential State of the Union message. Examining health care and immigration policy in separate empirical papers, I theorize that contextual factors, including legislative partisanship, public approval, and presidential influence may affect the extent to which policies supported by the Obama administration are rhetorically referenced by governors. Empirical analyses found limited support for the influence of divided government, but demonstrated significant evidence for the importance of including state-centric factors, including annual employment rate and proximity to Mexico, as well as temporal effects, into future analyses of gubernatorial rhetoric.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.13023/ETD.2017.435
Recommended Citation
Trantham, Austin Peyton, "THE STATE HOUSE AND THE WHITE HOUSE: GUBERNATORIAL RHETORIC DURING THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION" (2017). Theses and Dissertations--Political Science. 23.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/polysci_etds/23
Included in
Political Science Commons, Public Policy Commons, Social Influence and Political Communication Commons, Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons
