Image, media bias, and voter characteristics - The ideal candidate from 1988-2000

The view of image as a transaction between what candidates say and do and t he way in which voters compare that behavior to their beliefs of what candi dates should be or do stimulates three critical questions important to poli tical communication. First, although the power of the media to affect the o utcome of political campaigns and candidates is believed by citizens and ha s been documented by researchers, do the views of individual members of the media regarding the ideal qualities required of presidential candidates di ffer significantly from those of the voters ? Second, do the criteria of th e "ideal presidential candidate " vary across elections? And finally, do th e evaluative dimensions of idealness differ by party affiliation, age, or g ender? The answers to these and related questions were determined from a su rvey of 562 journalists covering. and 1,246 citizens attending, political r allies in New Hampshire during the presidential primaries of 1988, 1992, 19 96 and 2000.