Gattermann Katjana, De Vreese Claes H
Amsterdam School of Communication Research, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Eur Union Polit. 2017 Sep;18(3):447-468. doi: 10.1177/1465116517704519. Epub 2017 May 26.
We study the personalization of voting behaviour in European Parliament elections. We argue that information from the media is crucial for providing linkages between candidates and voters. Moreover, we contend that candidates can serve as information short-cuts given the complexity of European Union politics. We use a four-wave Dutch panel survey and a media study that enable us to link evaluations of lead candidates, party preferences, and vote choice to exposure to news about these candidates. We show, firstly, that exposure to candidate news is a strong explanatory factor for candidate recognition. Secondly, we find that candidate evaluations positively affect party choice, albeit mainly for those voters who tend to be politically aware. Our research has implications for debates about the European Union's accountability deficit.
我们研究欧洲议会选举中投票行为的个性化。我们认为，媒体提供的信息对于在候选人与选民之间建立联系至关重要。此外，鉴于欧盟政治的复杂性，我们认为候选人可作为信息捷径。我们使用了一项四波荷兰面板调查和一项媒体研究，这使我们能够将对主要候选人的评价、政党偏好以及投票选择与接触这些候选人的新闻联系起来。首先，我们表明，接触候选人新闻是候选人被识别的一个重要解释因素。其次，我们发现，候选人评价对政党选择有积极影响，尽管主要是对那些政治意识较强的选民而言。我们的研究对有关欧盟问责制缺陷的辩论具有启示意义。
