FUEL TO THE FIRE - TALK RADIO AND THE GAMSON HYPOTHESIS

The so-called ''Gamson hypothesis'' posits that the combination of hig h political self-efficacy and low trust in government is the optimum c ondition for political mobilization. The results of research on this i nteraction of self-efficacy and trust, however, have been mixed. This study examines whether talk radio, which has been linked to political mobilization in recent research, acts as a mobilizing influence on per sons who believe they can influence public affairs but who have little trust in government. It is also hypothesized that this interaction wi ll be even more powerful for political conservatives. Using national s urvey data, a fourfold typology was created from government trust and political self-efficacy and these expectations were tested against an overall participation measure and four factors that made up the measur e. Little support was found for talk radio being a more powerful predi ctor of participation among the high efficacy/low trust respondents as compared to other combinations of the variables. However, some suppor t is found for an interaction between talk radio exposure and politica l conservatives across all the participation variables.