The Observer: Good at Observing, Less Good at Influencing?

Philip Cowley

Political Studies, 2001, vol. 49, issue 5, 957-968

Abstract: The 1997 British General Election appeared to show a clear‐cut case of the media influencing electoral behaviour. In an attempt to facilitate anti‐Conservative tactical voting The Observer published the results of 16 constituency‐level opinion polls. The newspaper is frequently seen as influential in determining the outcome in certain seats, where several high‐profile members of the then Conservative government were defeated. In fact The Observer appears to have had very little impact in the seats it covered. Higher levels of tactical voting occured in few of these constituencies than in comparable seats elsewhere, and changes in the share of the vote consistent with the paper influencing the outcome are even rarer. In just one of the 16 seats covered by the paper is there prima facie evidence of the claimed effect.

Date: 2001
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