Mass Media Use and Voting Behavior

Abstract

This path analysis of 1972 presidential voting data suggests that first-time - voters are more likely than experienced voters to respond to campaign stimuli and to learn about candidates and issues through the newspaper. In more experienced voters, accuracy of political perception is predicted better by stable characteristics such as education and a day-to-day interest in politics, and newspaper use appears to have little independent impact. Network news viewing is not correlated with accuracy.