Television News and Candidate Fortunes in Presidential Nomination Campaigns

The Case of 1984

Bibliographic Data

ID7500544
AuthorsMarc Howard Ro (corresponding author), Marc Howard Ross (Bryn Mawr College)
Year1992
Volume20
Issue1
Pages69-98
Publication date1992-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Politics Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0044-7803 • E-ISSN: 2376-3728
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1532673x9202000104
OpenAlexW2027720326
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited8

This article examines how three potential effects of television news affect the public's perceptions of candidates. Data are used from the networks' nightly news coverage of each candidate during the 1984 Democratic primary campaign and from the National Election Study's 1984 Continuous Monitoring Survey. The analysis provides support for the existence of candidate-specific attention, horse race, and tone effects on (1) the mass public's assessment of a candidate's attractiveness, (2) people's willingness to vote for a candidate, and (3) judgments about a candidate's likelihood of garnering the nomination. Television coverage of candidates matters but in different ways and to different degrees across candidates. Finally, there is evidence for the power of strong indirect media effects, a testimony to the rapid diffusion of media messages into the wider political culture

Advertising · Attractiveness · Business · Democracy · Nomination · Political science · Politics · Presidential system · Public opinion · Public relations · Tone (literature · Media Influence and Politics · Media Studies and Communication · Psychology · Social Media and Politics · Law

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