Abstract
Candidate appearances on entertainment television have become a staple of recent presidential campaigns, yet little is known about their effect on voters. Many assume that they leave viewers uninformed and focused on the candidate's personal image. In this article, the author investigates this idea with an experiment using John Kerry's 2004 appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman. He finds that-contrary to popular expectations-late night interviews have particular features that can, at times, engage otherwise politically disinterested viewers, causing them to process and recall substantive policy information.
Repository Citation
Parkin, Michael. 2010. "Taking Late Night Comedy Seriously: How Candidate Appearances On Late Night Television Can Engage Viewers." Political Research Quarterly 63(1): 3-15.
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Publication Date
3-1-2010
Publication Title
Political Research Quarterly
Department
Politics
Document Type
Article
DOI
https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1065912908327604
Keywords
Political communication, Elections and voting behavior, Political psychology, Public opinion, Political participation
Document Version
post-print
Language
English
Format
text
