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Hillary Clinton and the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election: Did gender matter? Press analysis: the three presidential debates in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal

Delhaie, Manon

(2018)

Details

Supervisors

Opello, Katherine

Faculty

Faculté de philosophie, arts et lettres

Degree label

Master [120] en communication multilingue

Abstract

enThe 2016 American Election was controversial, as it opposed two strongly disliked candidates: Hillary Clinton on one side, Donald Trump on the other side. Political and personal scandals, explosive presidential debates, the whole world watched these elections with a critical and worried eye . For the first time in U.S. history, a woman was nominated by a major political party for the U.S. Presidency. Such progress for women who were determined to overcome the highest glass-ceiling. Unfortunately for them, the Republican candidate Donald Trump won the elections and a question emerged within the country: are the United States of America really ready to welcome a woman as President? Do gender stereotypes still represent an obstacle for female politicians? What are Americans’ perceptions about this? Did Hillary Clinton’s violation of female stereotypes play a role in her defeat? How did influent newspapers such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal perceive both candidates’ genders during the three presidential debates? To answer these questions, this thesis wants to analyse the “ideal” gendered behaviour for a female politician to be likeable in order to make a comparison with Hillary Clinton’s gendered attitudes. Moreover, an empirical press analysis realised in both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal during the three presidential debates is an interesting approach to understand the way genders were perceived at these times. After confronting the literature review to the empirical data, we will be able to understand whether Hillary Clinton’s gender was an obstacle to the Presidency and the impact of media and gender stereotypes on Americans’ collective identity and, consequently, their perceptions about Hillary Clinton during the 2016 Presidential Election.