Media Use, Issue/Image Discriminations, and Voting

Abstract

A test of a causal model provided support for the generalization that media use affects voting confidence indirectly. Newspaper reading increased voters' ability to discriminate between the issue positions and images of candidates in a gubernatorial election and that, in turn, increased confidence in voting decisions. Television news viewing had neither a direct nor indirect effect on confidence. Evidence was also found that newspaper reading increases the probability of viewing television news, but television news viewing appears to have little or no effect on probability of reading newspapers.