Influence of Issue Decision Salience on Vote Choice: Linking Agenda Setting, Priming, and Issue Ownership

Abstract

This study introduces issue decision salience as a mechanism for understanding how issue ownership processes impact vote choice, using panel data from the 2006 Swedish national elections. A model is developed probing the multiple influences of news attention and discussion on issue decision salience, party evaluation, candidate evaluation, and vote decision. The results suggest that a synthesis of agenda setting and priming with issue ownership offers a valuable framework for documenting how issue salience might affect ballot choice.