Effects of Campaigns - Processes of Knowledge Acquisition and Attitude Formation.

Based on a representative 3-wave panel survey of Swiss citizens the project is examining media use and the emergence of knowledge gaps throughout the Swiss referendum campaign on the one hand and processes of attitude formation and change in the course of the political campaign on the other hand. It is asked, how citizens do use traditional (Print & TV) and new (Internet) mass media as sources for political information, and how media use mediated by factors like education or political interest mediate information acquisition and emergence of knowledge-gaps. Furthermore, it will be analyzed on the basis of dual-process theories like the ELM, how citizens do form political judgments and to what extent these judgments are influenced by media coverage on the one hand and specific information processing strategies (heuristic and central) on the other hand? Results regarding the knowledge-gaps and the political judgment processes will be presented. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]