ABSTRACT

This study examined the effects of three different television genres on perceptions of a political candidate during an election period. Students at a large Southeastern university (n = 172) were assigned to one of three conditions: late-night comedy, traditional news, or sketch comedy to assess differential impacts on perceived trust, evaluations, and electability of Elizabeth Warren during the 2020 Democratic presidential primary period. Results showed that participants in the late-night condition rated Warren as more trustworthy than those in the traditional news condition. However, there were no differences across the conditions in terms of perceptions of electability or candidate trait evaluations. Finally, this study found that political knowledge moderated the relationship between condition and trust. More specifically, results showed that as knowledge increased, participants in the sketch comedy condition reported higher levels of trust in Warren whereas the opposite occurred for those in the traditional news condition. Perceptions of trust remained fairly high and stable in the late-night condition, regardless of political knowledge. Results demonstrate the importance of understanding how politicians (or their likeness) are perceived in different television settings and how certain media appearances could affect viewer perceptions of those politicians.

摘要

本研究考察了三种不同类型的电视在选举期间对政治候选人看法的影响。东南某大型大学学生（n = 172）被分配给三个条件之一：深夜喜剧，传统新闻或素描喜剧，以评估2020年民主党总统初级时期对伊丽莎白·沃伦（Elizabeth Warren）感知信任，评估和可选性的不同影响。结果表明，深夜条件下的参与者认为沃伦比传统新闻条件下的参与者更值得信赖。然而，就选举能力或候选人特质评估的看法而言，不同条件之间没有差异。最后，本研究发现政治知识调节条件和信任之间的关系。更具体地说，结果表明，随着知识的增加，小品喜剧条件下的参与者对沃伦的信任度更高，而传统新闻条件下的参与者则相反。无论政治知识如何，信任感在深夜条件下都保持相当高和稳定。结果表明了解政治家（或他们的肖像）在不同电视环境中的看法以及某些媒体出现如何影响观众对这些政治家的看法的重要性。