“Evolution of Modern Electoral Campaigning in America” (Nagoya University Press, 2015)

Masahito Watanabe (Associate Professor of Political Science, Research Faculty of Media and Communication, Hokkaido University )

It is a great honor for me to receive the Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Prize. I especially want to thank the judges, the foundation, all of my mentors and the publisher. In addition, I am also indebted to a number of people who helped me with field research in the U.S.
　This study examines how the political polarization in the U.S. over race, ethnicity, faith, ideologies as well as regional interest has been ironically enhanced under the process of electoral politics. To political parties and candidates, the name of the game in elections is Get Out the Vote, but for constituencies, elections are a compelling opportunity for advocacy. Moreover, even marginal actors such as grassroots activists have been embraced into the mainstream party politics by the same political campaigns but with different goals.
　This study discusses the American elections, focusing on how the Democratic Party and the Republican Party reach out to their voter base, even when current political dynamics transition. After the 2000s, there was a surge of more real-time online social networking technologies that integrated in grassroots mobilization, which enabled the American political campaigns to produce a more robust community of issue voters, beyond the traditional core activists of base votes. With the advent of a new communications dynamic, the party decline theory, which was popular after the 1970s and enhanced by the “candidate-centered campaigns,” now needs to be modified.
　The outreach strategies, which are targeted approaches to different voting blocs, would benefit a democracy of diversity, but on the other hand, it would escalate a deeper polarization.
In sum, if the emergence of a new political campaign strategy is the answer to the changing face of the American voter, we have to admit there may be many unresolved conundrums that lie ahead, which will warrants an in-depth examination. As such, this award is only just the beginning of my continued research. I want to thank everyone for the great honor of receiving this prestigious award.

Profile
Ph.D. in Political Science (Waseda University) MA in International Relations (University of Chicago) Following his graduate study at University of Chicago, Watanabe has conducted continual research on the American politics in close alliance with academic and research professionals. Watanabe was a research fellow at Columbia University and George Washington University from 2008 to 2010. As a journalist, Watanabe covered various Prime Ministers, the National Diet, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a political correspondent for TV Tokyo, a network in Japan. He has published eight books on politics and history.