This article presents the construction and test of a model developed to measure the effects of the press coverage in voting. The period of analysis are the presidential elections of 2002 and 2006. The dependent variable are the historical voting intentions series of the main candidates. The main independent variable was constructed from the content analysis focusing on the electoral coverage by the following Brazilian newspapers: Folha de S. Paulo, O Estado de S. Paulo, O Globo and Jornal do Brasil. The test results showed that the model worked well, and that the press coverage was indeed an important factor in the electoral disputes of 2002 and 2006. In both elections the voting intentions of six among the eight main presidential candidates were affected by the information flows coming from the press coverage.
press coverage; voting; presidential elections; media effects
