Campaign spending and election success: an empirical investigation of access to communications during political campaigns

Stated in terms of Lasswell's basic communications model, the problem at hand is how to determine the relative influence of sender, message and channel on receiver response, as the latter pertains to actions inside the voting booth. In this regard, one must consider various limitations which permeate prior research-analyses of message effectiveness and/or receiver persuasibility. But one is left at length with the existence of sender investigation as a necessary condition for receiver response.To put the matter in lay terms, it is necessary for a candidate to run for political office to be voted for by the public. Thus it would not be illogical to assume—as a hypothetico-deductive starting point —that politicians saying the most through the proper medium will be relatively successful, other things being equal. Such an assumption is a starting point as far as this study is concerned.