Posted by
Team Turk on Friday, October 27, 2006 2:40:46 PM
From United Press International:
Democratic challengers in the Nov. 7 elections should beware of campaigning against a "culture of corruption," a Purdue political science expert warns.
For one thing, says James McCann, who studies public opinion, corruption appears to be a "second-level concern" for most U.S. voters, based on recent polls.
He says the main issues, according to surveys, are the war in Iraq, the domestic economy and the threat of nuclear weapons in North Korea.
Further, basing a campaign on such a broad issue could be too difficult to energize and "particularly difficult to convince voters in the Republican bloc to believe the worst about their leaders and the institutions they govern," McCann says. It also could backfire.
"The emphasis should be on should be on political competency, not morality," McCann says in his analysis, "As Voters Head to the Polls, Will They Perceive a 'Culture of Corruption?'," published in this month's PS: Political Science and Politics journal.