Getting the most out of modern United States presidential campaigns

This dissertation will focus on the campaign for president of the United States in the general election. The main aspect of the study is the analysis of presidential candidates' decision-making processes. Namely, I am examining how the candidates establish issue platforms that appeal to the electorate on Election Day. The evaluation includes looking into overall political campaign effects in general elections and some specific campaign actions that induce decisions by voters. The study reviews three general elections and examines the presidential candidates' issue positions preferences designed to appeal to the voters.; This dissertation is introducing a new methodology that builds upon the simple median voter theory by tying together the issue selection process, issue position, and median position importance. It identifies the best platform across issues for candidates, demonstrates how to determine that platform, and then displays that candidates, in general, already intuitively act as if doing these kinds of calculations.; The tool in this study, provided through the Agent Based Stakeholder Model, identifies campaign strategies in terms of choosing optimal positions across key political issues. The ABSM demonstrates that during US Presidential elections, a campaign with carefully chosen positions on key issues will secure the most votes.