Role of Dialogue in Public Opinion Formation

This chapter shows that the frames present in the dialogue in the news media are highly relevant for the vote outcome. We show a framing effect in two of the three cases. These frames remain important for the voting decision when controlling for and in comparison with partisan heuristic. We can state that the more important the topic for a person, the less polarized the context, and the less complex the topic, the more a person relies on the frame-based path (thus, on arguments and less on heuristics like partisan orientation or social identities in general). In this regard, the chapter gives empirical support to the realistic theory of democracy. We do not expect arguments to play a more important role in other types of campaigns or other contexts. What we find here is the most that can be expected from citizens.