In recent American political discourse, elections and debates tend to be pr
esented by the news media as collisions of basic principles, with opposing
parties advancing beliefs about what is right and what is wrong. When news
coverage of an election campaign focuses on issues that emphasize rights an
d morals, voting behavior may be affected in two ways: Citizens become like
ly to form and make use of evaluations of the integrity of the candidates,
and citizens become motivated to seek an issue-position "match" with candid
ates on those issues for which discourse is ethically charged (particularly
when they hold a similar interpretation of the issue). These ideas were te
sted in an experiment in which labor union members and undergraduate studen
ts were presented with news stories about the contrasting positions of fict
ional candidates for elective office. Across three political environments,
all information was held constant except for systematic alteration of a dif
ferent issue in each environment. These three issues (abortion, gun control
, and health care) vary in the types of value conflicts emphasized in news
coverage. The results shed light on how individuals process, interpret, and
use issue coverage in choosing among candidates.