Who vs. what? Consistency of a politician’s brand in shaping voters’ preferences

International Journal of Market Research, Ahead of Print.
In this article we focus on the politician’s brand and how it develops in the voter’s mind. Specifically, we examine how priming a candidate’s image or issue traits influences how individuals update their beliefs about a candidate, and in what way the consistency of image traits and issue traits affects this evaluation. The results from a two-factor design (message: consistent vs. inconsistent) × (information order: image first vs. issue first) suggest that sequential dissemination of information about the candidate’s issue positions, followed by image information (consistent with the program or not) results in a more positive evaluation of the candidate.

​International Journal of Market Research, Ahead of Print. <br/>In this article we focus on the politician’s brand and how it develops in the voter’s mind. Specifically, we examine how priming a candidate’s image or issue traits influences how individuals update their beliefs about a candidate, and in what way the consistency of image traits and issue traits affects this evaluation. The results from a two-factor design (message: consistent vs. inconsistent) × (information order: image first vs. issue first) suggest that sequential dissemination of information about the candidate’s issue positions, followed by image information (consistent with the program or not) results in a more positive evaluation of the candidate. Read More