La imagen del candidato electoral: Hacia una integración de su dimensión racional y emocional

Abstract

It is evident that, nowadays, political communication strategies are focused on the personification of the political parties� messages. This way, the candidate becomes the priority reference and almost the only one with which to associate a particular politic alternative. Thus, the candidate ends up being the axis of the political, social and media discourse, from the differentiating and preferred ingredients with which his public image is characterized. An image that is built on the basis of certain characteristics or attributes: emotional aspects �which humanize the political figure- and cognitive aspects �which focus on the aspects through which the political figure performance and qualities can be rationally evaluated (Nimmo, 1974; Barranco, 1982; Levine, 1992; Ortiz Castaño, 1993; Newman, 1994; Hacker, 1995; Sanchís, 1996).