THE MEDIAS ROLE IN FORMING VOTERS NATIONAL ECONOMIC EVALUATIONS IN 1992

Theory: In terms of economic voting, voters' perceptions of economic i ndicators can be more important than the statistics themselves. This d istinction is particularly important in understanding George Bush's de feat in 1992. Hypothesis: Relentlessly negative reporting on economic performance during the election year negatively affected voters' perce ptions of the economy. These altered perceptions influenced voting beh avior. Methods: Ordinary least squares regression is used to demonstra te the media's impact on economic evaluations. Logistic regression is used to demonstrate the importance of economic evaluations in vote cho ice. Results: Media consumption and attention to the presidential camp aign through the mass media negatively shaped voters' retrospective ec onomic assessments. These assessments were significantly related to vo te choice. This suggests an explanation for why George Bush lost reele ction despite an economy that had rebounded from recession well in adv ance of election day.