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Political image is a transactional process between candidates' actions and how voters assess them with their own individual ideas of the ideal presidential candidate. This 28-year longitudinal study of political communication serves to address the following four research questions. First, what attributes do voters find most important or desirable for a candidate to possess—in other words, what makes him or her an ideal presidential candidate? Second, how do these evaluations of ideal characteristics change across time and a different field of candidates? Third, how important are the candidates' demographic variables? Fourth, how do the evaluations of ideal characteristics differ across the age, gender, and political party affiliation of the voters? These questions are posed and answered across 1988 to 2016 presidential campaign cycles in one of the longest research studies in the discipline of political communication.

Political image is a transactional process between candidates' actions and speech and how voters assess them with their own individual ideas of the ideal presidential candidate. This 24-year longitudinal study of political communication serves to address the following four research questions. First, what attributes do voters find most important or desirable for a candidate to possess—in other words, what makes him or her an ideal presidential candidate? Second, how do these evaluations of ideal characteristics change across time and a different field of candidates? Third, how important are the candidates' demographic variables? Fourth, how do the evaluations of ideal characteristics differ across the age, gender, and political party affiliation of the voters? These questions are posed and answered across 1988 to 2012 presidential campaign cycles in one of the longest research studies in the discipline of political communication.

The view of image as a transaction between all that a candidate says and does and the way in which voters compare that behavior to their personal vision of what a candidate should be inspires at least three questions important to campaign communication. First, although the ability or power of the media to affect the success or failure of political campaigns and candidates is popularly believed and has been documented by researchers, do the views of individual members of the media regarding the ideal qualities required of president candidates differ significantly from those of voters? Second, do the characteristics or criteria of the "ideal candidate" ascribed by the media and/or the electorate vary from election to election? And finally, do the evaluative dimensions of "idealness" differ by party affiliation, age, or gender? The answers to these questions were determined from the results of a survey of 388 professional journalists covering and 734 citizens attending rallies in New Hampshire during the presidential primaries of 1988, 1992, and 1996.

Image as a transaction between what candidates say and do and the way voters compare that behavior with their personal vision of what candidates should be or do stimulates at least three critical questions important to political communication. First, although the ability or power of the media to affect the success or failure of candidates and campaigns is believed by many citizens and documented by research, do views of individual members of the media regarding ideal qualities presidential candidates should possess differ significantly from those of voters? Second, do characteristics or attributes of the "ideal" presidential candidate, as affixed by the media and the electorate, vary from election to election? Finally, do the evaluative dimensions of "idealness" differ in relationship to gender, age, or party affiliation? Answers are determined from results of a survey of journalists covering and citizens attending political rallies in New Hampshire during the 1988 to 2004 presidential primaries.

The view of image as a transaction between what candidates say and do and the way in which voters compare that behavior to their beliefs of what candidates should be or do stimulates three critical questions important to political communication. First, although the power of the media to affect the outcome of political campaigns and candidates is believed by citizens and has been documented by researchers, do the views of individual members of the media regarding the ideal qualities required of presidential candidates differ significantly from those of the voters? Second, do the criteria of the "ideal presidential candidate" vary across elections? And finally, do the evaluative dimensions of idealness differ by party affiliation, age, or gender? The answers to these and related questions were determined from a survey of 562 journalists covering, and 1,246 citizens attending, political rallies in New Hampshire during the presidential primaries of 1988, 1992, 1996, and 2000.

The view of image as a transaction between what a candidate does and the evaluative response that voters have to it creates at least three critical questions as yet unanswered in the literature of political communication. First, although the power of the media to affect the success or failure of political campaigns and candidates has been demonstrated by researchers and is popularly believed, do the views of individual media members regarding the qualities necessary for presidential candidates differ significantly from those of the electorate? Second, although voters share many beliefs about the personal qualities that presidential candidates ought to possess, do these attributes vary from presidential election to election? Finally, although voter assessment of a candidate's image is a major determinant of voter behavior and voters have a mental picture of an ideal candidate that they use to evaluate actual candidates, do the evaluative dimensions differ by party affiliation? The answers to these questions were determined from the results of a survey of 236 professional journalists covering and 444 voting citizens attending presidential rallies in New Hampshire in 1988 and 1992.

Image as a transaction between what candidates say and do and the way voters compare that behavior with their personal vision of what candidates should be or do stimulates at least four critical questions important to political communication. First, what qualities or attributes do voters believe are important for a presidential candidate to possess—what are the dimensions of the "ideal" presidential candidate? Second, do these views change with time and with candidates, or are they fairly consistent across elections? Third, were the unique candidate demographics (religion, race, gender, and age) apparent in the 2008 New Hampshire primary important to voters? Finally, do the evaluative dimensions of "idealness" differ in relationship to the gender, age, or party affiliation of those who attend political rallies? Answers are determined from results of a survey of citizens attending political rallies in New Hampshire during the 1988 through 2008 presidential primaries.