Impact area of political communication: case study (Spanish elections 2004)

Abstract

This work gathers the main results of a study which focused on voter behaviour in the Spanish General Elections in 2004, held on the 14th March, only a few days after the terrorist bombings of trains in Atocha Station on the 11th of March. Using the hypothesis of the impact area of political communication, we have anaylsed the most important issues for public opinion during the 2000-2004 legislature, paying attention to the months leading up to the elections. The elections were marked by the bombings in which the issues of terrorism, unemployment and housing were the three most serious problems faced by the Spanish population according to both the public and the personal agenda, thus making them keys issues interested in political communication.