How voters process political campaign communication: A qualitative study of a panel of voters during campaign 1976

Research on political behavior has focused on the outcome of the campaign process—the vote, rather than on the cognitive uses made by voters of the political communications received during the campaign, and the progressive dispositions and perceptions affected by such communications. The purpose of this study was to uncover clues as to the way people of different kinds of orientations responded to incoming information during the 1976 Presidential campaign. Our findings reflect a qualitative view of the ways people use political communications, rather than quantitative generalizations descriptive of all or most voters.