VOTER LEARNING IN THE 1990 OFF-YEAR ELECTION - DID THE MEDIA MATTER

This study measures how much voters in one Midwestern city and state l earned about the issue positions of two 1990 U.S. Senate candidates, a nd what images of these candidates they formed from campaign coverage and other information. Contrary to popular wisdom that describes 1990 off-year election news coverage as superficial, this study suggests th at radio news, televised ads and regional newspapers were significant sources of information about the candidates' stands on issues for resi dents of Bloomington, Indiana. For Indiana residents in general, viewi ng TV ads and paying attention to newspaper coverage of the U.S. Senat e campaign were significant predictors of knowing more about the candi dates' issue positions. Media exposure and attention measures, however , generally were not significant predictors of candidate images.