Cognitive Strategies and Communication During a Presidential Campaign

Abstract

Changes in voters' cognitive strategies and in the relationship of cognitive strategies to political participation were examined in a cohort study of 628 students during the 1984 presidential campaign. The prevalence of four selected cognitive strategies was shown to shift during the campaign, and communication behavior differed between persons using the same strategies at different stages of the campaign. The study supports a growing body of evidence suggesting that campaign communication is not a simple function of partisanship and precampaign commitment, but is also related to the cognitive behavior of voters at particular times during a campaign.