Perceptual Screen Analysis Herman Cain

Herman Cain is a well-renowned African American author, business owner, radio host, and columnist who ran for Presidential Campaign in 2012, but did not secure enough pledge delegates or funding to secure a nomination. He was also an active member of the Georgia Tea Party. Prior to his campaign for presidency, Cain has lead the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Ohana Bench for two years. He also opposed Bill Clinton’s plan of healthcare in 1993 and fought against it. In 2011, Herman Cain announced his decision to run for 2012 presidential campaign under the Republican Party. He was the most covered candidate of the 2012 campaigns, gearing large coverage for his outspoken views. However, it is likely that his race and ideology could have

prevented him from securing nomination, as well as his ideology and polarization of various issues.
Race and Gender in politics
Race and gender plays a large part in campaign candidates securing nominations, seats, and votes in order to reach a winner take all majority. In some cases, the race of the person can play an effect on whether or not a candidate receives nominations or votes. With the significant increase of polarization, the public is concerned about the candidate’s view on issues and initiatives taken to solve current problems polluting society. That is, but not limited to, estate tax, gun control laws, and smoking. According to University of California, Merced Assistant Professor of Political Science, Alexander George Theodoridis, the concept of polarization is outlined as the variation of issues between genders, male and female as well as partisanship gap. This is referred to as the “gender gap,” where one party tends to identify with one party favorably over the other, with males favoring the Republican, and females favoring Democrats (Theodoridis. “Partisanship.” Voting, Campaigns, Elections). In particular to Herman Cain’s campaign, his outspoken views about the lack of representation of the conservative party and strong opposition against the democratic views made him a major debacle and caused controversy among many of his supporters.
Hypothesis and Thesis
In summary, the focal point of this thesis will be to examine whether or not a candidate’s race, given that he is African American, will have an effect on support, funding, and vote choice. Also, polarization of various issues based on ideology and gender plays a role in vote choice and support for the candidate. The hypothesis is to examine the likelihood that African American candidates and polarization of various issues on the basis of Ideology and how these elements are correlated with vote choice and support that is received by the candidate.
Methodology
To conduct the analysis, a timeline of the candidates campaign will be examined along with empirical articles regarding issues of gender, race, politics, and media effects. An observational study will be conducted through the method of archival analysis in regards to media reports, voting data, and demographics of voters. In the first hypothesis, the primary independent variable is race, and the primary dependent variable is vote choice. In the second hypothesis, the primary independent variable is polarization of issues, and the primary dependent variable is vote choice.
Independent/Dependent Variable Explained:
Main Hypothesis #1:
IV: Race of Candidate  Possible Mechanisms: Bias/Favoritism DV: Vote Choice
Main Hypothesis #2:
IV: Polarization of issues Possible Mechanisms: Bias and commitment to stay with own race DV: Vote Choice
Causal Chart to Outline Hypothesis:
Whether or not a candidates race will affect the amount of votes received. Whether or not polarization of issues will affect vote choice.
Candidates who are African American In a comparison of voters, those who are African American will most likely vote for the African American Candidate. In a comparison of voters, issues that are more polarized in society will most likely affect vote choice.
Candidates that are white In a comparison of justices, those who are African American will most likely vote for the White Candidate. In a comparison of voters, issues that are less polarized in society will affect vote choice.

Polarization and Ideology:
The perceptual screen concept is outlined strongly when comparing party identification and the individual’s ideology to the candidate.

As referred to in Campbell, the perceptual screen plays a strong role in voters when it comes to viewing issues and their own ideology. Thus, individuals only tend to see issues that are closely aligned with their own ideological views. That is, voters will lean more with issues that are dominating our society and their preferred party’s way of handling the matter.
As the perceptual screen of candidates and partisanship becomes more central, it is harder to change their views. For example, in a democratic individual, when views are strong, the voter will most likely perceive issues or questions that are more in line with their own beliefs. In Cain’s campaign, Republican voters with strong ideology will tend to view Cain as a strong leader. Thus, not taking into account the other sides perspective, outlining strong perceptual bias. There are many factors that lead to partisan stereotypes, with Party Identification being one of the strong

factors.
During the time of the 2012 Presidential campaign, while strong opposition for the parties were starting to decrease, the polarization of issues was still at an all time high. During the Cain campaign, which was the exact year of the culture wars, the polls were starting to shift between democratic and republican parties. In the case of Herman Cain, the exact context was occurring during the political scandal revolving around him and his mistress. Various parties were voicing their opinion on his scandal, and his plan for healthcare. The Republican side of the ideological spectrum was defending Cain’s reputation, saying that these types of events happen on a regular basis to many of its finest political candidates, including John Edwards and Bill Clinton. The Democratic side of the spectrum, however, was not too thrilled about the whole scandal. In fact, these voters strongly voiced their opinion about Cain being able to continue in the presidential race.
Secondly, in Herman Cain’s “999 plan,” which was the central claim for his campaign in 2012, with this plan, the entire required taxes that American’s would pay would be eliminated. Instead, a 9% personal income tax, corporate income tax, and national sales tax would be implemented to replace the entire tax system. The purpose of the 999 plan was to eliminate estate tax. This plan caused a large amount of controversy among parties. While conservatives claim that the plan will have long lasting impact on the economy, liberals claim that there will be no such impact, just the opposite. The main purpose of the overall plan was to eliminate the complexity of the tax system. The plan would accomplish this goal by eliminating all estate tax, which is paid by all homeowners,
The 999 plan has caused some conflict among different groups of individuals because while some argue that the overall taxes will be decreased as a result of the plan, with straightforward systems for rich people to pay their taxes. It may not be beneficial to the poor because they may have to pay a large sum of taxes, thus leading to partisanship of issues as discussed in types of partisanship stereotypes.
District Information & Campaign Timeline:
When Herbert Cain started running early in 2011, he was already known because he attempted to run for 2000 presidential campaign for a brief moment. However, he had to drop out of the campaign due to failure of receiving enough delegates to secure a republican nomination. During that time, he criticized President George W. Bush, stating that he had better elements of a stronger campaign and was overall, a better messenger to the Citizens of United States. Secondly, he publicly went on record that he opposed president Bill Clinton’s plan for healthcare, which would have required that all registered United States citizens have a health insurance policy unless they choose to switch to an alternative health care plan. When Cain started running in a second attempt in 2012, he was already famous with the Georgia tea party, having ran for senate once before. Secondly, he suddenly became a YouTube sensation, and was known for his strong voice in various issues. However, he was unable to secure enough popular votes in the end to be considered for a nomination.
During the beginning of the 2012 campaign, Cain started out with some recognition, but was still pinned as the dark horse by comprehensive benchmark polls because he did not possess any electoral experiences. According to the New Hampshire straw poll, Cain was able to finish in seventh place out of twenty first in terms of the Republican candidates who were campaigning against him in the presidential campaign. He had roughly 4% of shared vote from the Republican district of Georgia. From this analysis, it is shown that race may not have been a factor in the amount of support that was received by the public in the campaign, it may have been the later political scandal that cost Herbert Cain his votes. Also, prior to the 2012 campaign, another poll was casted in Phoenix, Arizona during a convention that asked the open forum “who would you like to see run for president in 2012?” The responses to this poll was as follows, Ron Paul received 15% of the votes, Sarah Palin received 10% of the votes, Tim Pawlenty received 16% of the vote, and Herman Cain won the majority with 22% of the vote. As shown, there were many supporters who wanted Cain to run for presidency. There were a total of 1,600 participants in this poll. There is no clear relationship of the candidate’s race having interfering factor with vote choice. However, partisanship of issues could lead voters to shift directions.
At the start of the campaign, a presidential campaign debate was hosted by Fox News Stations that featured Herman Cain with five other republican nominees. After the debate was over, the public had an opportunity to participate in an online poll of who won the debate. Cain ended up winning the majority of the vote. Secondly, a focus group was held in regards to the aftermath of the debate by the hosts of the event and Fox News affiliated workers. A focus group, as defined in the Sunshine Hillygis literature, is where a small group of people get together to discuss and vote on a certain issue (Sunshine- Hillygis, Ch. 5). After the focus group was conducted, the participants in the group were asked to take a vote in regards to who they believe is the winner of the debate, and a whopping 29 participants voted to declare Cain the winner. This event gave Cain the momentum that was needed to guide his victory in straw polls as well as public recognition.
Cain’s early momentum seems to be working well. He began to gain popularity on the internet for promotion of his image and reputation, as well as his plans to make the United States a stronger nation. He also began dominating in straw polls and other web-directed polls through social media and news sites. Although he did not garner as much support as the other Republican candidates to reach the top three, he feels satisfied because he is slowly building the momentum that he needed in order to receive enough public votes to secure a nomination.
According to Cain, his main goal was not to compete toe to toe with the other front runners, or spend a large sum of money for endorsements at a higher standards such as large corporations, celebrity promotion, or advertisements in popular programming.

That is, the goal of Cain’s campaign was to show his commitment and dedication to show citizens of the United States that he can make a real difference. In his mind, he states that he has already beaten out former candidates who held an office position or had more recognition. Thus, his momentum was working well with the public as he was actively promoting himself through the use of the internet. However, what would be better is Cain attempting to face the public at conventions to further expand his recognition. Known as the method of “Going Public,” it is essential for candidates to gain support as it has been shown that those who tend to lose support will eventually have their campaigns suspended or drop out of the entire race.
Months after early momentum, Cain continues to dominate in straw polls. This time, he managed to win the Florida GOP Republican presidency straw poll with 37% of the votes casted, with Rick Perry, trailing behind with 15% of the votes. A total of 2,657 votes were casted. Cain also won the TeaCon Midwest with 77% of the casted votes. From this data, it appears that Herman Cain was a popular candidate in online polls. However, he suddenly lost his momentum when accusations started to come out against

him.
In late 2011, Herman Cain was accused of Sexual Harassment by a couple of his female employees. This would be an ongoing issue, that is debated, and will be polarized among many voters. It was also during this time that Herman Cain began to lose his momentum in the campaigns and with the voters, which is crucial to maintain a strong campaign.
Media Portrayal of Partisanship in issues