The Presidential Concession Speech: How Candidates Manage Defeat in an Era of Growing Partisan Polarization

Abstract

Commonly explored in the discipline of political science, partisan polarization is an inherently discursive phenomenon that is ripe for rhetorical analysis. This study investigates how political candidates manage the polarization surrounding the electoral process by focusing on the concession speech, which is a ritualistic and highly emotional rhetorical event. Specifically, I examine two contrastive cases of speeches delivered in low and high polarization contexts: respectively, the concession speech of Walter Mondale (1984) and that of Hillary Clinton (2016). In this essay, I show how Mondale, engages in image-maintaining rhetoric while Clinton removes herself from the context and makes numerous appeals to her supporters to uphold their partisan movement, even as both candidates cope with the challenges of polarization. My rhetorical analysis reveals that each speech acts as a unique model for managing polarization, in addition to reaffirming the the role of the concession speech as a genre with major significance in the electoral process.