A political endorsement is a public declaration of one's personal or group's support of a

candidate A candidate, or nominee, is a prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position. For example, one can be a candidate for membership in a group (sociology), group or election to an offic ...

for elected office. In a multiparty system, where one party considers that it does not have enough support to win power, just prior to the election, the official representative of that party may give an official endorsement for a party that they consider more likely to be a contender. In Australian electoral law, "electoral endorsement" is a specific term and a candidate can only be endorsed by a registered party. There are also presidential endorsements.

By journalists

According to a 2002 study, editorial endorsements of candidates by newspapers led voters to evaluate endorsed candidates more favorably than candidates who fail to secure an editorial endorsement. An editorial political endorsement of national political races can result in the perception of reduced journalistic objectivity, while endorsement in local political races can be seen non- partisan. Reduced political accountability from journalism is a risk to

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

. Scientific credibility of scientific organizations can be reduced with editorial political endorsements.

References

Elections Voting theory {{poli-term-stub