International Journal of Public Opinion Research Advance Access originally published online on July 22, 2005
International Journal of Public Opinion Research 2006 18(2):198-210; doi:10.1093/ijpor/edh092
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Priming Effects of Late-Night Comedy
Patricia Moy (Ph.D., Wisconsin-Madison) is Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Washington, where she holds the Christy Cressey Endowed Professorship. Her research focuses on the process of public opinion formation, the effects of massinterpersonal communication on various forms of citizenship.
Michael A. Xenos (Ph.D., Washington) is Assistant Professor of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research revolves around public deliberation, campaignselections, the relationship between new communication technologiespolitical behavior
Verena K. Hess (M.A., Washington) is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Communication at the University of Washington. She studies audiencesthe role of media in political contexts
Direct correspondence to Patricia Moy, Department of Communication, University of Washington, Box 353740, Seattle, WA 98195–3740, USA, Email: pmoy{at}u.washington.edu
Having become fully integrated into the contemporary political landscape, infotainment-oriented media extend Americans’ traditional news (e.g. newspaper, radio, and television) to include a greater number of sources for political information, and in some cases, political mobilization. Given the increasing prominence of infotainment-oriented media in contemporary politics, this study addresses the effects of one particular type of infotainment—late-night comedy—during the 2000 presidential campaign. Specifically, we are interested in whether watching late-night comedy shows influences viewers’ evaluations of the candidates who have appeared on these shows; in particular, we investigate priming as the mechanism by which such influences occur. Findings from the 2000 National Annenberg Election Survey (N = 11,482) indicate that evaluations of candidates are based in part on respondents’ sociodemographics, perceptions of candidates to handle certain issues, and their character traits. There was a main effect of watching late-night comedy on evaluations of candidates; more importantly, viewers were more likely than nonviewers to base their evaluations of George W. Bush on character traits after he appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman.
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