ABSTRACT
This study is a comparative, longitudinal analysis of textual references to gender and racial issues, looking at a sample of 440 prominent pro-Democratic and pro-Republican audiovisual advertising messages from 1952 to 2020. A close reading of general election presidential campaign messages traces how the Democratic party has run on gender and racial issues. Research findings are attributed to divergent US party structures. The study confirms that Democrats have run on women's issues, such as the rights to vote and choose, were first and more likely to stop framing them primarily in their family and reproductive roles, regardless of age, were unique to address LGBTQ rights, and were more likely to run on racial issues, framing them in terms of overcoming discrimination rather than creating jobs.
