Family matters? Exploring media coverage of presidential candidates’ families by gender and race

Abstract

ABSTRACT Researchers have only recently begun to explore the role of parenthood and family in politics. While some scholars focus on the political attitudes of parents, others examine the advantages and disadvantages of politicians’ parental status on candidate viability. Building on the concept of politicized motherhood, we argue that focusing on candidates’ parental status alone provides an incomplete picture of the full range and symbolic functioning of family in political discourse. We coin the theory, politicized family, which includes narratives of candidates’ spouses, parents, grandparents, and children, and argue it provides a more useful frame for understanding these processes. We also move the literature forward by assessing how media coverage of families of presidential hopefuls varies along gendered and racialized lines. Using 2,458 articles and opinion pieces from the Washington Post, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal, we conduct a content analysis of candidate coverage from the 2004 and 2008 Democratic presidential primaries to explore how national print media portrays the family narratives of presidential candidates. Our results uncover both gendered and racialized family discourses embedded in media representations of presidential hopefuls. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of such portrayals for establishing candidates’ relatability and electoral viability.