Value Resonance and Value Framing Effects on Voting Intentions in Direct-Democratic Campaigns

Abstract

This study offers insights into how news media frames interact with existing value orientations in shaping voter preferences. It is assumed that a framing effect should be more pronounced when frames in the news resonate with people’s existing value predispositions. These assumptions were tested in a real-world setting of a political campaign dealing with the issue of naturalization of immigrants. Based on a data set in which the data of a two-wave panel survey were matched with content analytic data, the present research demonstrated frame-resonance effects for news reporting about the pro campaign. That is, framing the issue in terms of the notion that people should have the final say in naturalization procedures shaped voting preferences only for voters whose basic values of social order, tradition, and security (high authoritarians) were touched. In contrast, a main effect of the opponents’ framing in the news on voting preferences was found. Thus, the majority followed the framing of the opponents who put emphasis on a fair and pragmatic solution of the naturalization issue.