Who Learns in Information Rich Contexts? The Informative Effects of the 2015 Spanish Electoral Campaign

Abstract

This article analyzes the informative effects of an election campaign in a scenario where new political information entered the competition, given the emergence of two new parties. Using an exhaustive measure of political learning, and thanks to the use of panel data, it shows that at least some of the otherwise “inattentive citizens” were able to learn about politics during the Spanish general election campaign in December 2015. This group predominantly comprised women, the poorly educated, and especially those with low motivation. From all the media outlets analyzed here, we conclude that it was the information disseminated on TV infotainment that was most successful in promoting learning. Significantly, TV infotainment contributed the most to learning facts about the new political parties entering the electoral competition.