Informed Democracy: Information Experiences during the 2012 Queensland Election

Background

It has been argued that without a basic understanding of differences in policy between candidates and parties “the public will be unable to cast its ballots wisely and, hence, unable to hold elected leaders accountable for their actions” (Craig, Kane, & Gainous, 2005, p. 483). Eveland, Hayes, Shah, and Kwak (2005, p. 428) echo this sentiment stating that “knowledge of such information is important for citizens to make informed decisions.” How then do voters select, gather and use political information that is available to them? There has been a plethora of research in the political arena, giving some insight into the information sources used by citizens to inform their voting decisions, and factors that affect certain aspects of voting such as perceived knowledge, political self efficacy and commitment to vote. This section will briefly review some of the findings of research that has been undertaken in this field.

Much has been uncovered about the sources that citizens report using to gather information to inform their vote. For example, Lusoli (2005) reported that 78% of Europeans surveyed reported receiving election information from television or radio broadcasts, 60% read newspaper articles, and 46% discussed political issues with family and friends. Norris and Curtice (2007) found similar results for British citizens: 51% used television or radio broadcasts for their political information gathering, 47% read the newspaper, and 46% discussed the election with friends and family. While conducting focus group interviews with college students in the United States, Wells and Dudash (2007) discovered that discussions with family and friends was mentioned by 28.5% of participants, while 22% watched/listened to television and radio programs, 10% read newspapers, and 15% reported using the Internet for seeking political information.