Found considerable support for the hypothesis that voters who rely on television use candidates' image characteristics to make their voting choices more than do voters who rely on newspapers. Found little support for the second hypothesis that candidates' stands on issues will play a stronger role among voters who rely on newspapers. (PD)

A study investigated whether reliance on television rather than on newspapers affected the way people made voting decisions. Specifically, it focused on whether television reliance was associated with greater candidate image evaluation and newspaper reliance with greater issue importance in the prediction of voter preferences. Telephone interviews…

Personal interviews were conducted with 353 eligible voters in Madison, Wisconsin, in October 1976, and repeated with all but 30 after election day to examine the correlation between voters' age, paper reading (especially public affairs), and television watching (especially public affairs), and the amount of behavioral volatility (voter…

The "limited effect" model originated by Lazarsfeld is not sufficient for full analysis of the political influences effected by television advertisements for candidates for political office. Newer political communication research indicates that, in both British and American politics, television political commercials have eroded party…

The paper investigates whether the 1976 presidential debates contributed to political participation among all sectors of American society. Evidence was obtained from 353 eligible voters in Madison, Wisconsin, before and after the debates. Effects were evaluated by taking correlations between the level of respondents' exposure to the debates and…