AN ANALYSIS OF SYMBOLISM, POLITICS AND VOTING BEHAVIOR
All three of the people I interviewed said that television news does not influence them that much. I believe that this would be true of any committed member of a political party, since these are people who have taken a stand on issues they believe are important, and they have put some thought into what they believe. It's entirely likely that the people who are most influenced by television news are the 49 percent who didn't vote in this year's election, and maybe the ones who don't indicate a strong party preference.
I found it interesting that all three of the people I interviewed had in common the fact that they had a strong set of core beliefs, which definitely colored the way they looked at the world, and that they felt they were acting in their perceived self interest to vote the way they did. In each case, this led them to take diametrically-opposed positions, but they all went through a similar process to get there.
As far as symbols are concerned, the Republican voter, Mrs. Blake, seemed to be the one who was most influenced by the buzz words of her particular group. I would definitely define her as a member or what is known as The Christian Right, though I did not specifically ask her that question. She used a lot of the buzz words of that group, i.e., "return to traditional values," "killing the pre-born," etc. I was actually surprised when I questioned her about supporting women Republicans running for office how strongly she seemed to be an anti-feminist. The conservative Christian churches have been pushing the idea of women "submitting graciously" to the leadership of their husbands, and it certainly seems that she is doing that. When I listen to the tape recording, I can tell that as I was asking her questions and getting her answers, that I was increasingly getting upset with her, and having a hard time hiding it. I think this is because I was...