Agenda Setting in the 2012 Republican Primary Race

Charlotte Davis

Introduction
Politics are widely followed in the US Television coverage widely used for election coverage In 2008, the voice of young voters (18-35) was more prominent than ever in politics

Purpose
Determine if agenda setting is apparent in TV campaign coverage Does TV news tell us what issues are important?

Theory
Agenda Setting Theory
medias decision to cover some issues while ignoring others (Wu & Coleman, 2009) Tells us what we should think about and how we should think about these things (Wu & Coleman, 2009) McCombs & Shaw (1972) used agenda setting theory to explain how voter decide what issues are important in political campaigns

Theory cont.
Tedesco (2005) found agenda setting can also effect what issues candidates discuss Agenda setting can also change political policy (Mortensen, 2010) Late night news can be considered political news in agenda setting (Boyd-Barrett, 2011)

Literature Review
Why Television?
Widely popular Still growing (Maier, 2010)

From smartgirl.org

Lit. Review

From onntv.org

2012 Republican Primary

Very intense and long (Cohen, 2011)

Lit. Review
The Issues
Candidates past history Their character The economy and jobs creation Social issues All major issues according to debates and news coverage during 2012 Primary

Research Question
RQ1: Is there a correlation between the frequency of watching a particular news network and the perception of which issues are important? IV: News Network DV: Important Issues

RQ cont.
Definitions
IV: News Network
Conceptual: TV news networks who report on US political events Operational: Asked participants to rate how often they watched 3 news networks, with space to add another network, on a likert scale

RQ cont.
Definitions
DV: Important issues
Conceptual: Issues that candidates talk about, are covered by the news and are then deemed important by people who watch televised news. Operational: Asked participants to rate how important they thought 7 issues were on a likert scale.

Hypotheses
H1: The more people watch televised news the more likely they are to view candidates past history as an important issue in the 2012 Republican Primary. IV: People who watch TV news often DV: Candidates past history

Hypotheses
Definitions
IV: People who watch TV news often
Conceptual: This will include people who watch news channel coverage of the 2012 Republican primaries more than once a week on average. Operational: Asked participants how often they watch TV news (Everyday, Twice weekly, Weekly, A few times a month, Monthly)

Hypotheses
Definitions
DV: Candidates past history
Conceptual: This includes past political moves and can be used as test of conservativeness in the Republican Party. Operational: Asked participants to rate how import this issue was on a likert scale.

Hypotheses
H2: The more people watch televised news the more likely they are to view candidates character as an important issue in the 2012 Republican Primary. IV: People who watch TV news often DV: Candidates character

Hypotheses
Definitions
IV: People who watch TV news often
Same definitions as H1

DV: Candidates character

Conceptual: Non-political aspects of candidates past Operational: Asked participants to rate how import this issue was on a likert scale.

Hypotheses
H3: People who watch televised news are more likely to view the economy and jobs creation as important issues in the 2012 Republican Primary. IV: People who watch TV news often DV: Economy and jobs creation

Hypotheses
Definitons
IV: People who watch TV news often
Same definitions as H1 and H2

DV: Economy and jobs creation

Conceptual: All things economical including smaller stories about unemployment, budget, deficit, etc. Operational: Asked participants to rate how import this issue was on a likert scale.

Hypotheses
H4: The more people watch televised news the more likely they are to view social issues as important issues in the 2012 Republican Primary. IV: People who watch TV news often DV: Social issues

Hypotheses
Definitions
IV: People who watch TV news often
Same definitions as H1, H2, and H3

DV: Social Issues

Conceptual: These are issues that the candidates have a stance on that may change peoples lives in a personal way. Operational: Asked participants to rate how import this issue was on a likert scale.

Hypotheses
H5: The amount of perceived coverage a candidate receives affects whether people who watch televised news often would vote for that candidate. IV: Amount of perceived coverage of a candidate DV: Who participants would vote for

Hypotheses
Definitions
IV: Amount of perceived coverage of a candidate
Conceptual: This is how much people who watch televised news feel that a candidate is being shown on television news. Operational: Asked participants to rate how often they hear about each candidate in the news on a likert scale.

Hypotheses
Definitions
DV: Who participants would vote for
Conceptual: How likely a person who watches television news would be to vote for a certain candidate in the 2012 Republican Primary. Operational: Asked participants to rate how likely they would be to vote for each candidate on a likert scale.

Method/Data Collection
Sample:
Queens University of Charlotte Undergraduate student population Convenience sample 35 undergraduate students sampled

Method/Data Collection
Data Collection:
Face to face survey Participants completed survey on their own but were allowed to ask for clarifications if needed 13 questions long (multiple choice and Likert scales) Participants were asked two pre-screening questions to ensure they had the knowledge to complete the survey

Pilot Study
Five students out of the QUOC TUG population were chosen to participate Took each person between 7-12 minutes None asked for clarifications on any questions Some correlations were apparent from pilot study

Findings: RQ
RQ1: Is there a correlation between the frequency of watching a particular news network and the perception of which issues are important? Findings
Out of the 6 people who watch Fox News most said History, Economy, Foreign Policy were most important.

Findings RQ
Findings
Out of the 13 people who watch CNN most said character, economy and environment were most important Out of the 10 people who watch MSNBC most said character, economy, and social issues were important Out of the 10 people who watch Other stations most said that economy, foreign policy, and Environment were important issues

Findings RQ
Correlations
No trends Exception: People from each news station felt the economy was important

Supported?
No There is no correlation between which news station a person watches most and what issues they think are important.

H1 Findings
H1: The more people watch televised news the more likely they are to view candidates past history as an important issue in the 2012 Republican Primary. IV Frequency Distribution
People who watch TV news (4-5): 15

DV Frequency Distribution
People who think past history is important : 24

H1 Findings
Correlations:
Positive correlation Not very significant

Supported?
Yes H1 was supported Most people who watch TV news often think that candidates past history is important.

H2 Findings
H2: The more people watch televised news the more likely they are to view candidates character as an important issue in the 2012 Republican Primary. IV Frequency Distribution
People who watch TV news often: 15

DV Frequency Distribution
People who think character is important: 29

H2 Findings
Correlations
Positive correlation Has significance

Supported?
Yes H2 was supported People who watch TV news often feel that candidates character is important.

H3 Findings
H3: People who watch televised news are more likely to view the economy and jobs creation as important issues in the 2012 Republican Primary. IV Frequency Distribution
People who watch TV news often: 15

DV Frequency Distribution
Think economy and jobs creation is important: 31

H3 Findings
Correlations
Positive correlation Has significance

Supported?
Yes, H3 was supported People who view TV news often think the economy and jobs is an important issue.

H4 Findings
H4: The more people watch televised news the more likely they are to view social issues as important issues in the 2012 Republican Primary. IV Frequency Distribution
People who watch TV news often: 15

DV Frequency Distribution
Think social issues are important: 27

H4 Findings
Correlations
Positive correlation Has significance

Supported?
Yes, H4 is supported People who watch TV news often think social issues are important.

H5 Findings
H5: The amount of perceived coverage a candidate receives affects whether people who watch televised news often would vote for that candidate.

H5 Findings
IV Frequency Distributions
Romney: 32 Gingrich: 16 Paul: 12 Santorum: 24

DV Frequency Distributions
Romney: 9 Gingrich: 1 Paul: 3 Santorum: 5

H5 Findings
Correlations
Most had positive correlations Gingrich had negative correlation Somewhat significant

Supported?
Not supported Amount of perceived coverage does not affect how likely a person who watches TV news is to vote for a candidate.

Discussion
H1, H2, H3 & H4
All support the idea that agenda setting is apparent in TV news political coverage Also support the agenda setting notion that the news tells us which issues are important to think about.

H5
Somewhat supports the agenda setting ideal that the more a candidate is shown on the news the more important that candidate is to the viewers.

Discussion
The RQ did not support the idea that different stations set the agenda for issues in a unique way
Several different stations had viewers who felt similar issues were important

Conclusions
Agenda setting theory is apparent in TV news coverage People who watch news often are more susceptible to political agenda setting Agenda setting does have limits and other factors may be at play

Limitations
Sample size Non probability sample Lack of knowledge on subject Other factors may have influenced results

Recommendations
Use political affiliation as variable Maybe better to sample more professional age group

Thank You!!