A New Look at Campaign Advertising and Political Engagement: Exploring the Effects of Opinion-Congruent and -Incongruent Political Advertisements
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Exposure to cross-cutting versus like-minded political advertising is highly relevant in terms of deliberative democratic theory. However, few efforts have been made to shed light on the effects of such opinion-incongruent and -congruent political advertisements. By analyzing data from a representative panel survey, and hence identifying effects over time, we found that exposure to opinion-congruent advertising enhanced political participation. Opinion-congruent advertising also accelerated the timing of voting decisions when citizens were low in ideological strength. However, contrary to our expectations, exposure to opinion-incongruent political advertising had no effects on political participation and the timing of voting decisions. These findings suggest that opinion-congruent advertising is a strong mobilizer, whereas opinion-hostile advertising is a weak cross-pressure. Implications of these findings for the study of political advertising effects are discussed.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Communication Research |
Volume | 42 |
Issue number | 1 |
Pages (from-to) | 134-155 |
Number of pages | 22 |
ISSN | 0093-6502 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 5 Feb 2015 |
Externally published | Yes |
- campaigns, cross-cutting advertising, participation, timing of voting decisions
Research areas
ID: 255169666