Campaign Interest and Issue Knowledge: Did the Media—and Negative Political Advertising—Matter in “Battleground Ohio”?

Abstract

A statewide survey (N = 564) before Ohio's 2006 gubernatorial election examined issue knowledge, campaign interest, campaign news attention, debate exposure, and attention to political advertising and negative political advertising. Attention to campaign news on television and in the newspaper predicted interest in the campaign as well as knowledge about the issues. However, attention to campaign news online predicted interest in the campaign above and beyond that of newspaper and television attention. In turn, campaign interest predicted knowledge. In addition, attention to political advertising predicted interest in the campaign but not knowledge of campaign issues. Attention to negative political advertising did not significantly predict campaign knowledge or interest.

Notes

^aIncome was measured using a continuous ordinal scale (1 = less than $15,000, 7 = more than $65,000).

^bEducation was measured using a continuous ordinal scale (1 = no high school, 6 = postgraduate studies).

^cParty ideology was measured using a continuous ordinal scale (1 = very conservative, 2 = somewhat conservative, 3 = moderate, 4 = somewhat liberal, 5 = very liberal).

^dInterest scales are scored 1 to 5 (5 being the highest).

^eKnowledge scale is coded 0 to 4 (4 being the highest).

^fAttention scales are scored 1 to 5 (5 being the highest).

*p < .05.

**p < .01.

***p < .001 (two-tailed).

^aStandardized regression coefficients are reported.

*p< .05.

**p< .01.

***p< .001 (two-tailed).

^aStandardized regression coefficients are reported.

*p < .05.

**p < .01.

***p < .001 (two-tailed).

¹To be sure that attention to negative campaign advertising was not a poor predictor due to attention to campaign advertising accounting for the same variance and being in the same block, regression models were run with only negative advertising in the final block. The nonsignificant results were the same.