Endorsements as Voting Cues: Heuristic and Systematic Processing in Initiative Elections1

This project explores how organizational endorsements influence voter attitudes during initiative elections. Building on the heuristic–systematic model (Chaiken, 1980; Chen & Chaiken, 1999), we propose that voters use organizational endorsements as heuristic cues to help them develop their attitudes toward initiatives. It is hypothesized that the influence of endorsements on initiative voting depends on the applicability, availability, and diagnosticity of the endorsement voting cue and on the degree to which the voter is motivated to fully evaluate the arguments behind the initiative. An experiment was conducted in which motivation (processing goal instructions), cue applicability (match between endorsing organization and initiative), and initiative (four different hypothetical ballot issues) were manipulated. Results showed support for our first two hypotheses, but not for the third.