Abstract

We find strong support for an on-line model of the candidate evaluation process that in contrast to memory-based models shows that citizens are responsive to campaign information, adjusting their overall evaluation of the candidates in response to their immediate assessment of campaign messages and events. Over time people forget most of the campaign information they are exposed to but are nonetheless able to later recollect their summary affective evaluation of candidates which they then use to inform their preferences and vote choice. These findings have substantive, methodological, and normative implications for the study of electoral behavior. Substantively, we show how campaign information affects voting behavior. Methodologically, we demonstrate the need to measure directly what campaign information people actually attend to over the course of a campaign and show that after controling for the individual's on-line assessment of campaign messages, National Election Study-type recall measures prove to be spurious as explanatory variables. Finally, we draw normative implications for democratic theory of on-line processing, concluding that citizens appear to be far more responsive to campaign messages than conventional recall models suggest.
Tm tt Chng ti tm thy h tr mnh m cho mt m hnh on-line ca qu trnh nh gi ng c vin m tri ngc vi cc m hnh da trn b nh cho thy rng cc cng dn p ng cc thng tin chin dch, iu chnh nh gi tng th ca h v cc ng c vin phn ng ngay lp tc nh gi ca h v thng ip ca chin dch v s kin . Theo thi gian ngi ta qun hu ht cc thng tin chin dch ca h c tip xc vi nhng d sao c th recollect tm tt ca h sau ny nh gi Trm cc ng c vin m h sau s dng thng bo cho s thch ca h v s la chn b phiu. Nhng pht hin ny c ngha ni dung, phng php lun, v quy phm cho cc nghin cu v hnh vi bu c. Substantively, chng ti hin th nh th no chin dch thng tin nh hng n hnh vi biu quyt. Phng php lun, chng ti chng minh s cn thit o trc tip nhng g chin dch thng tin mi ngi thc s tham d trong qu trnh c mt chin dch v cho thy rng sau khi kim sot nh gi trc tuyn ca c nhn nhng thng ip ca chin dch, quc gia bu c cc bin php thu hi hc kiu chng minh c gi mo nh l Gii trnh bin. Cui cng, chng ti rt ra nhng tc ng quy phm cho l thuyt dn ch ca on-line ch bin, kt lun rng cc cng dn xut hin c thm rt nhiu p ng thng ip ca chin dch hn so vi cc m hnh thng thng ngh gi li.