How College Students’ Partisanship Affects Their Attitudes Toward Political Ads : The Case of the 2012 General Election in South Korea

How College Students’ Partisanship Affects Their Attitudes Toward Political Ads : The Case of the 2012 General Election in South Korea

Researchers have typically defined voters’ partisanship as their belonging to a particular party. Alternatively, however, recent researchers have viewed voters’ partisanship as their attitudes toward a party that can range in magnitude. Accordingly, this study examined (1) whether South Korean college students’ attitudes toward political ads can be affected by their attitudes toward the parties and (2) whether the relationship can be moderated by their expectations of the election outcome for the parties and perceived importance of the issues addressed in the ads. Several hypotheses were proposed based on literature review and tested through a survey in the context of the 2012 general election in South Korea. It was found from the test that South Korean college students tended to have positive attitudes toward the political ads of the parties toward which they have positive attitudes as hypothesized. Different from the hypothesis, however, such an impact was not moderated by their expectations of the election outcome, with an exception of those who supported a progressive party but had positive expectations of a conservative party. Lastly, the hypothesis that the impact would be moderated by their importance perception of the issues addressed in the political ads showed. a mixed outcome. Based on the result, suggestions were made for more effective use of political ads and future studies.