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Individual and Contextual Variations in Political Candidate Appraisal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Wendy M. Rahn ,
John H. Aldrich  and
Eugene Borgida
Wendy M. Rahn
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin, Madison
John H. Aldrich
Affiliation:
Duke University
Eugene Borgida
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota
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Abstract

In this note we elaborate on the conditions under which on-line and memory-based strategies of political candidate evaluation can be implemented. We suggest that the structure of information may be an important contextual variable affecting the voter's choice of these strategies. In addition, we propose that citizens with less political sophistication are particularly sensitive to structural differences in the political information environment. We use an experimental design that manipulates the information-processing context to test these ideas. Our results suggest that the context in which information is presented plays a critical role in moderating the influence of individual differences in political sophistication.

Type
Research Notes
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 88 , Issue 1 , March 1994 , pp. 193 - 199
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1994

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