Contemporary Presidency: Presidents Meet Reporters: Is Donald Trump an Outlier among Recent Presidents?

Abstract

Is President Donald Trump an outlier among presidents in the ways in which he meets with the press? Using comparative data for Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Trump, this article looks at how similar and different Trump is compared to his recent predecessors. While at one time presidents answered reporters' queries in presidential press conferences, today presidents have more opportunities to meet the press. All six presidents studied used three basic forums: press conferences, informal question-and-answer sessions, and interviews. They did so in ways consistent with their presidential goals and in settings in which they felt comfortable. In their first 32 months, all recent presidents employed strategies similar to ones that brought each to the presidency and then most found additional resources for communicating with the public. Except for President Trump, Presidents Reagan through Obama did so with relatively stable White House leadership teams and coordinated communications organizational structures. In this way as well as in significant others, the five previous presidents had more in common with one another than they did with President Trump.