The Enthymeme Gap in the 1996 Presidential Campaign

As scholars puzzle over the so-called gender gap in the 1996 presidential election, we invite them to consider the ways in which communication by the Clinton campaign explicitly and implicitly told women that Clinton was a president more closely allied with their concerns than Dole. When we examined 111 Democratic and 79 Republican speeches and 56 Democratic and 31 Republicans ads that were delivered or appeared during the presidential campaign between the conventions and election day, we found Clinton blunting the traditional Republican argument that Democrats favor big intrusive government and oppose "family values" by arguing that he had used government to protect women's rights, health, and children from the assaults of Dole-Gingrich and their allies the tobacco and gun lobbies. This theme was reinforced by Democratic ads that situated Clinton within the context of the family and by Democratic rhetoric in which women, children, and families were central elements.