ABSTRACT
This chapter examines whether news coverage altered the foundations of the public's judgments of President Reagan's character, particularly judgments of his competence and integrity in addition to judgments of his performance. It also examines whether media coverage of the Iran-Contra connection altered the foundations of the public's assessments of President Ronald Reagan's character. Priming was most pronounced for aspects of public opinion most directly implicated by the news coverage, more apparent in political novices' judgments than political experts', and stronger in the evaluations of Reagan's overall performance than in assessments of his character. The empirical support for priming is strong; but so far it comes entirely from experimental studies. Priming provides an empirically grounded, psychologically plausible account of how individuals form and revise their views of presidential performance. The effects of priming were a bit more pronounced in the public's judgments of Reagan's competence than in judgments of his integrity.
