Candidate images in the 2007 French presidential elections

This study examines the political images of candidates competing for the French presidential office in 2007. The focus is both on the media and public projections of these images. The research investigates how the media affects the public's descriptions of political candidates. Furthermore, the public's images of candidates are examined in relation to their impact on the vote. The influence of media on the public's focus of attention, referring to who and what people are thinking about, has been studied within the agendasetting theory since the 1970's. More recently the theory has expanded to elaborate the influence of media on how people think about persons and topics in the news. This expanded version of the theory, defined as either the secondlevel agenda-setting or attribute agenda-setting, strengthens the media's impact on the audience. In this respect, the media not only tell us what to think about, but also tell us how to think about. Combining the analysis of French editorials and opinion surveys, my study provides strong evidence for the second-level agenda-setting hypothesis within the context of presidential elections. The media's descriptions of both major candidates, Ségolène Royal and Nicolas Sarkozy, affected the public's evaluations of them. The tone employed in the media's descriptions of candidates, whether positive or negative, corresponded with the picture voters had in their minds. Consequently, the public images of candidates had a significant impact on voting choices. Asiasanat: candidate images, agenda-setting theory, presidential elections, Franc