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IT IS GENERALLY AGREED that television has transformed some aspects of politics in industrialized societies of the West. For example, it is a commonplace of American journalism and political science that party identification today plays less of a role in voting-and the personalities of candidates have become more important—than a generation ago. These changes may be related to the role of the media in politics. Because television brings images of political leaders into the homes of citizens on a daily basis, it may tend to elicit emotional responses to individuals and thus favor viewer involvement in the candidates as" personalities" rather than in the parties they represent or the issues they espouse. Because television may be a particularly viewerinvolving medium (Andreoli and Worchel, 1978), its increased importance as the source of political information might help explain these changes. TV provides detailed information on leaders' facial images along with verbal messages—and these nonverbal cues are known to communicate emotion and to provide information for trait evaluations.