Communication Forms in U.S. Presidential Campaigns

Abstract

This study examined the influence of various communication forms or modalities on prospective voters' perceptions of candidates and their attitudes about the democratic process during the 2000 presidential election campaign. A total of 450 prospective voters were surveyed during the final three weeks of the 2000 campaign about communication use, perceptions of the two major party candidates, and attitudes about the democratic process. After controlling for respondents' age, gender, education, strength of party identification, and the number of candidate ads recalled, the results indicated that use of nontraditional communication forms (such as political talk radio and, to a somewhat lesser extent, television entertainment talk shows, television talk shows, and television news magazines) exerted the most influence on perceptions of presidential candidates. Among traditional communication forms, people's use of televised debates exerted considerable influence, but newspapers, magazines, and television news exerted very limited impact. In contrast to this pattern of findings regarding communication use and candidate perceptions, people's use of more traditional communication forms, especially televised debates and newspapers, was associated with positive attitudes about the democratic process, whereas nontraditional media exerted no significant influence on process.