2004 US election: panel study

I was asked to give a presentation to MMU, later in the term, on new media and the forthcoming British election.

Going through my files to see how the lesson from the US could be applied to the design of interviews in the UK I came acorss a wealth of cuttings and articles from the 'online campaign' point of view, but little in terms of the comparative importance of different media in a 'media intense' campaign as it was. (apart form some data presented by Stephen Coleman and Phil Noble at a Hansard event).

Then I found an email pointing me to 2004 Elecion Panel Study, conducted by the BYU Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy and UW-Madison Wisconsin Advertising Project. It looks at the volume, tone, and type of campaign communication in realtion to attitudes and behavior of voters using a three-wave panel between June 2004 and Election Day, i.e interviewing the same repondents at different times during the campaign.

The survey is aimed at TV vieweing more thatn any other mass media. However, there is a question (on Wave 1) on email as a campaign tool, Q. 54, which might prove, comparativelywith other forms of solicitation, interesting to analyse. And more, who knows, mihgt be included in following waves. I'll need to track that.