Persuasive Strategiese in Focus A Political Discourse Analysis of Three Presidential Debates

Political debates have always been the most challenging discourse for speakers who intend to show their skill of promising and articulating the vision of a better future in a clear and inspiring way over an opponent who is doing the same. Great politicians are gifted with ability to persuade their audience even if they are wrong or dishonest. Analyzing the speeches of great politicians can lead to understand strategies they have used to win the attention and trust of people. This paper is intended to investigate the use of persuasive strategies by two well-known American politicians, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, in the last three presidential debates for 2012. Using Aristotelian rhetorical strategies for persuasion, an analytical framework has been defined in order to analyze the debates. This framework consists of ten strategies utilized by the candidates to persuade their audience. The frequency of each strategy is measured meticulously in each debate. The findings show that discrediting and presenting ideas are the most used strategies by these politicians to win the debates.

کلیدواژه ها:

Political discourse analysis ، discourse analysis ، presidential debate ، persuasive strategies ، discrediting