In an effort to discover the effects of mass media on viewer perception of candidates' positions, tests were administered to 10 to 12 families at each of five locations across the country immediately following each of the 1976 Carter-Ford debates. Sixteen statements were drawn from the presidential platform of each party and each statement was…

Although Arizona's Chicano population has increased since 1960, their generally lower socioeconomic status has had a direct impact on their voting participation. Such problems as language, altered polling places and precinct boundaries, absence of bilingual staff, and literacy tests have also contributed to the voting difficulties encountered by…

This issue of the "News Research Bulletin" contains reports on two studies of media use by contemporary young adults. The first study analyzes the media behavior of 447 randomly selected respondents in Virginia Beach, Virginia in the summer of 1973. Some of the highlights of the study were that about 90 percent of the young people report doing at…

The purposes of this book are to summarize and analyze the nature of public opinion in contemporary America and to examine the implications of that nature for the possibility of a functioning democracy. Material in the four sections covers the following topics: "The Study of Public Opinion: Political Theory and Methodology"--opinions and…

A conference of public broadcasters sponsored by the Aspen Institute discussed the role of noncommercial television in informing the public on political issues and covering political campaigns. The topics of discussion included: (1) governmental restrictions of public broadcasting, (2) governmental subsidies of political candidates, (3)…

The concept of alienation is discussed as an internalized state reacting to prevailing social conditions, and political behavior is hypothesized as being its outward manifestation. Purposes of this paper are threefold: (1) produce a new set of data to be used in exploring possible linkages between alienation and political behavior, (2)…

The authors identified those Community School Districts in New York City that have a minority population of at least 60 percent and also contain a non-Hispanic white residential enclave. By studying the election results for these school districts, the authors tested the hypothesis that non-Hispanic white middle-class voters had a disproportionate…

The results are reported of a survey of potential voters in Kansas City, Missouri, relative to their attitudes toward school levy elections. The survey encompassed four major areas, including residents' views on education in general, how they evaluated the public school system in their district, how they evaluated public schools in their…

The "limited effect" model originated by Lazarsfeld is not sufficient for full analysis of the political influences effected by television advertisements for candidates for political office. Newer political communication research indicates that, in both British and American politics, television political commercials have eroded party…

The bulletin presents in tabular form the results of the sixth annual joint survey of 1971-72 tax, bond, and loan election results for the State of California. The first two tables report the results of tax elections and the results of bond or loan elections. In each table, the counties are reported alphabetically, with districts within each…

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between psychological traits and voting behavior. Investigated is the thesis that psychological traits are useful concepts for political scientists as predictors of consistency in behavior. Contending that previous trait theory research has been generally unimpressive, the author…

Investigates the relationship of campaign media attention to the intent to vote, both directly and through intervening stages of cognition and strength of commitment to candidate choice. Concludes that TV attention directly influences vote intention whereas attention to newspapers works through cognitions. (MM)

A survey of absentee voting in the Highline (Washington) School District revealed that mailed-in ballots have no better than--and often less than--a 50-50 chance of favoring school finance issues. School officials should reconsider encouraging the growth of voting by mail. (IW)

Senators' votes are charted for these issues: reductions in higher education program spending and work-study programs; draft registration; 1984 appropriations; spending ceiling legislation; 1985 appropriations; and an amendment to nullify the Supreme Court's Grove City College ruling. (MSE)

This C-SPAN guide helps teachers and students follow the presidential campaign process from September 1999 through January 2001. The guide features five components of a U.S. presidential campaign: (1) "Campaign Overview"; (2) "Campaign Kickoffs"; (3) "Primaries/Caucuses"; (4) "National Conventions"; and (5)…