Who will be picked for vice president? Let’s discuss who’s qualified for the job
Retrieved on:
Wednesday, February 14, 2024
You know, that favorite game of pundits, politicos and political junkies who, every four years, obsess over the presidential candidates’ choice for vice president.
Key Points:
- You know, that favorite game of pundits, politicos and political junkies who, every four years, obsess over the presidential candidates’ choice for vice president.
- Who will Trump pick for vice president?
- Will Biden drop Vice President Kamala Harris from the Democratic ticket?
- But what matters most to voters, according to my research, and to the future of this country is finding someone who is well qualified to serve as vice president – and president, if necessary.
What the media get wrong
- Veepstakes media coverage deserves its poor reputation as little more than an electoral parlor game.
- This is the conclusion from my 2023 book, “News Media Coverage of the Vice-Presidential Selection Process: What’s Wrong with the ‘Veepstakes?’” I used data from presidential elections from 2000 through 2020 to conduct the first systematic analysis of veepstakes media coverage.
- This allows me to characterize the media’s messages about what is important when selecting a vice presidential candidate.
What does the evidence show?
- Whether a candidate was qualified to serve in the White House attracted much less attention.
- A potential vicen presidential candidate’s political or professional experience gets even less media coverage in the run-up to a close election.
- Choosing a well-qualified vice president is treated as a luxury that only some presidential candidates can afford.
How to get it right
- And in what used to be a simple ceremonial function, they also open and count the states’ electoral votes after a presidential election.
- It is therefore important for presidential candidates to choose a running mate who can help them govern once in office.
- In short, running mates mostly have an indirect effect on how people vote by influencing what they think of the presidential candidates.
- That is to say, very few people change their vote simply because they like the vice president or come from the same state or demographic group.
The media’s role
- Informative news articles can provide answers to the most important questions: What are the potential running mate’s qualifications?
- My research suggests that this is the standard to which journalists and their audiences should aspire as they enter the veepstakes season.
- You can pay attention to those who treat it as such – and ignore those who don’t.
Christopher Devine does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.