Agenda building, agenda setting, priming, individual voting intentions, and the aggregate results: An analysis of four Israeli elections

Abstract

This article reports the findings of the multistage agenda-setting process of four Israeli elections. In the first stage, agenda building, it is demonstrated that there is a close association between real-world indicators and media agenda. In the second stage, agenda setting, it was found that the level of television coverage of issues influences the proportion of surveys' respondents naming these issues as the nation's most important problems. In the third stage, priming, the analysis focused on electoral voting behavior in multiparty parliamentary elections rather than on the usual evaluations of the president's performance. At the individual level, there is evidence for a priming effect. At the aggregate level, the findings suggest that there may be a priming effect on the actual electoral success of various political parties. Copyright © 2005 International Communication Association.