The West Wing as endorsement of the US presidency:: Expanding the bounds of priming in political communication

This study uses priming as a theoretical basis from which to investigate potential effects of NBC's The West Wing on individual-level perceptions of the U.S. presidency. As a result, this work extends political communication-based priming research to entertainment television content. Josiah Bartlet, the fictional president portrayed on the show, is generally perceived more positively by viewers than either the Republican President George W Bush or Democrat William Jefferson Clinton. Perceptions of the importance of being engaging to presidential success rose as a result of watching the program, and The West Wing viewers retained more positive images of Bush and Clinton after the viewing experience. Viewing The West Wing seems to prime more positive images of the U.S. presidency that subsequently influence individual-level perceptions of those individuals most directly associated with this office. The authors make theoretical connections to previous work on role display and trust in democratic institutions.