The Importance of Communication in Political Campaign

Political communication is not enough just by combining two definitions, communication and politics. It has its own concept, although it is simply a combination of the two concepts. Communication and politics in the discourse of human science are two areas of search that can each be said to be relatively independent. But both have similarities because they have the same material object, namely humans. The similarity of these material objects makes the two disciplines cannot avoid the meeting of the field of study. The main goal of political communication is to convey political information, shape the political image of the candidate, form public opinion and repel ridicule and accusations from the opposition. An election candidate who masters political communication effectively will get the support of the next voters to win the election. Mistakes in political communication will tarnish the image of an election candidate and erode his political career. An election crisis occurs when the election outcome is unclear, particularly when there is no reliable and agreed-upon mechanism for determining the winner. This paper uses agenda-setting theory (agenda setting) as the basis of the study. Study data were collected through content analysis methods. This paper examines political communication stages before the election, which includes research, goal setting, developing campaign messages, and voter relations plans.