have to rely as much on advertising to be informed on Nixons positions. This polling data may give the perception that the majority of Americans favored Nixons policy beliefs but, as mentioned previously, Gallup polls showed that McGovern agreed with the public 70 percent of the time. Although McGovern may have had the same political beliefs as a majority of Americans, Nixon was seen by the majority of American people to be closer to their opinions. Even though there is evidence that shows that McGovern held similar policy preferences to that of many Americans, the evidence shows the majority of people saw Nixon as holding policy preferences similar to theirs. This helps to show that it could quite possibly McGoverns inability to get his message out to the American electorate that cost him the election.A factor that may have played a larger role than policy issues or advertising in the election was the perception that the American electorate had on the leadership capabilities of each candidate. Kathleen Hall Jamieson argues that McGovern and Nixons campaign advertising left the American electorate with the feeling that McGovern feels, and Nixon acts. Knowing that Nixon was not seen as a warm person, Jamieson argues that McGovern tried too hard to seem compassionate, and very well may have compensated his ability to be looked at as a leader. Nixons ads were based on the ability of Nixon to look presidential. Ads that talked about his overseas ventures with Russia and China, along with ads that described Nixon as inheriting a mess. The goal of the Nixon camp was to portray Nixon as the President. Another factor that has been attributed to the perception that McGovern lacked strong leadership abilities was his handling of the situation with his original running mate Thomas Eagleton. Declaring that he was behind Eagleton 1000 percent followed by Eagletons removal from the ticket after discovering Eagleton had a history of men...
