Nationalization of the Legislative Vote, Visibility and Reputation in the Written Press: An Analysis of Candidates’ Strategies for the 2014 Colombian Senate Election

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article aims to explain how during the 2014 Colombian legislative election those candidates who had national visibility—in terms of the number of appearances in written press—effectively had a nationalized election. Furthermore, it aims to explain and further the understanding of the relationship between a candidate’s reputation in terms of favorability, esteem, and prestige, and the degree of nationalization of his or her votes. Therefore, to answer our research question, a descriptive study is conducted, seeking to account for the relationship between the variables: nationalization using Bochsler’s weighted party nationalization score, candidates’ visibility in the written press, and candidates’ reputation—understood in terms of their image, esteem, prestige, and goodwill—during the 2014 election campaign.