Date of Award

4-9-2013

Degree Type

Open Access Thesis

Department

Political Science

Committee Member

Jeffrey Bernstein, PhD

Committee Member

Edward Sidlow, PhD

Committee Member

Brooke Dagnan, PhD

Abstract

Political campaigns are increasingly turning to Internet advertisements to reach potential voters. These advertisements are designed to target a person's specific policy preferences. A series of three surveys were administered to students at EMU. The purpose was to determine the effects of targeted Internet-style advertisements on a person's perception of a candidate, their motivation to vote, and their knowledge of the candidate's platform. The results show that targeted advertisements tend to be more effective than non-targeted advertisements in improving a voter's perception of a candidate and increasing their motivation to vote. The results also shed light on the inferences that voters make about a candidate's policy positions even when working with limited information.

Comments

The Senior Thesis was submitted to the Eastern Michigan University Honors College in partial fulfillment of the requirement for graduation with honors in the Department of Political Science and the Department of Communications

Posted: April 9, 2013

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