Discourse analysis of populism in presidential elections in the U.S.

This master's thesis is dedicated to the issue of populism in politics. It has been designed as an exploration of the discourse of this phenomenon during the 2020 United States presidential elections. The goal of the thesis was to identify, describe and compare usage of populist elements by both main presidential candidates. Theory of Cas Mudde was chosen as the foundation. Theoretical part is split into two chapters which are devoted to the topics of populism and context of the American society. These segments introduce and define core concepts that will be subsequently used. Practical part is divided into two chapters as well. Initially, we present various aspects of the methodology of our qualitative research. It is based on the analysis of two presidential debates conducted through discursive-historical approach of critical discursive analysis. Henceforth, the following section is focused on the analysis and interpretation of acquired data. The output of this process is the exploration of the discourse as well as description and contrasting of populist tendencies of Joe Biden and Donald Trump. The analysis has shown presence of populist elements in both campaigns. Specifically, Biden's conception of the people is predominantly populist, whereas his approach towards elites and the will of the..