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- Title
Voter Uses and Perceptions of Editorial Endorsements.
- Authors
Fedler, Fred; Smith, Ron F.; Counts, Tim
- Abstract
Six interviewers questioned voters as they left the polls in Orlando, Fla., on the day of the 1984 presidential election. The interviewers stopped 562 voters and completed 426 interviews. Forty-seven percent of the respondents said they considered editorial endorsements "very" or "somewhat" helpful, 33.8% were able to name at least one candidate endorsed by the city's only daily newspaper and a surprising 23% said the endorsements had helped them decide who to vote for. Twenty-three percent is considerably more than reported by any previous study. Other respondents insisted that the endorsements had not helped them — but that the endorsements probably had helped other voters. Still other respondents were critical of the endorsement process. Those respondents said they "do my own thinking" and "make up my own mind." Finally, the respondents seemed to consider endorsements more helpful in local than in national elections, and in elections for issues rather than in elections for individuals.
- Subjects
UNITED States presidential elections; POLITICAL candidates; VOTING; INTERVIEWING; POLITICAL participation; PRACTICAL politics
- Publication
Newspaper Research Journal, 1985, Vol 6, Issue 4, p19
- ISSN
0739-5329
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1177/073953298500600403