Essay On Name Recognition

Political candidates spend a significant amount of time and money ensuring that the public knows their name and will recognize it on the ballot come election day. This is done through yard signs, media, appearances, franking and more. Often times, seeing these advertisements while driving in the car on your way to work, or sorting through your mail, the average person doesn 't think twice about their significance. However, these messages are most commonly used to gain name recognition when it comes down to voting day. Although there is no consensus on whether or not name recognition plays a role in a candidate gaining more votes, it can be argued that name recognition is a useful tool in low information elections. I will be testing two hypotheses in this paper. The first is that in elections where there are new candidates running for the position, the one with the most common name or a higher name recognition will gain more votes. The second is that the incumbent that is running for re-election is more likely to win based on a positive name recognition and familiarity. This hypothesis is based off of findings that document how citizens …show more content…
According to this hypothesis, the candidate with the more popular name and has gotten more public recognition of their name, such as through mailers, and advertising, will in turn receive more votes to the opponent when faced with the list of names on the ballot. The second hypothesis states that an incumbent (who hasn’t had a scandalous term) will win reelection due to their name recognition created through holding office, as well as their capabilities to ensure that the community knows who they are come voting