• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.103-127
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• 2014

This study reviews existing research on the measurement of and the relationship between political diversity and political participation. It addresses the inconsistency in the arguments of existing studies researching the influence of political diversity on political participation. It attempts to find the cause in the variety of approaches to conceptualize and operationalize the two variables. As the measure of political diversity, political network heterogeneity and network attributes are discussed in detail in specific relation to political participation. As for political participation, an in-depth analysis of various ways to understand different forms of political involvement is presented. Implications for public opinion research are discussed.

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.292-306
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• 2014

China's "two sessions," namely, the National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), has significant meaning to the political life of the nation. It collects opinions and advice from different groups of people annually. "Two sessions" 2013 was especially eye-catching, because new state leaders were elected at the meetings. Using CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing) system, the Media and Public Opinion Center of Fudan University (FMORC) conducted surveys of China's "two sessions" every year from 2007 to 2013. In 2013, the influence of new media on public opinion has become increasingly significant. Microblog and WeChat have become two types of important media for Shanghai residents to express their opinions and take part in China's "two sessions." Based on the empirical findings, this paper examines Shanghai Residents' cognition, attitudes and expressions towards "two sessions" 2013 and analyzes how new media affect the public opinions on significant political events.

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.180-196
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• 2020

This paper considers Japanese political interviews to integrate conversation and facial expression analysis. The behaviors of political leaders will be disclosed by analyzing questions and responses by using the turn-taking system in conversation analysis. Additionally, audiences who cannot understand verbal expressions alone will understand the psychology of political leaders by analyzing their facial expressions. Integral analyses promote understanding of the types of facial and verbal expressions of politicians and their effect on public opinion. Politicians have unique techniques to convince people. If people do not know these techniques and ways of various expressions, they will become confused, and politics may fall into populism as a result. To avoid this, a complete understanding of verbal and non-verbal behaviors is needed. This paper presents two analyses. The first analysis is a qualitative analysis that deals with Prime Minister Shinzō Abe and shows that differences between words and happy facial expressions occur. That result indicates that Abe expresses disgusted facial expressions when faced with the same question from an interviewer. The second is a quantitative multiple regression analysis where the dependent variables are six facial expressions: happy, sad, angry, surprised, scared, and disgusted. The independent variable is when politicians have a threat to face. Political interviews that directly inform audiences are used as a tool by politicians. Those interviews play an important role in modelling public opinion. The audience watches political interviews, and these mold support to the party. Watching political interviews contributes to the decision to support the political party when they vote in a coming election.

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.73-89
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• 2014

Everyone has a voice and can broadcast it to the world. We hear about the old maxim of media do not tell people what to think but what to think about. Under this theory or approach, a key function of political communication is to make the public think about an issue in a way that is favorable to the sender of the message. In a democracy, political communication is seen as crucial for the building of a society where the state and its people feel they are connected. Thus, this is a study on how social media (e.g., Facebook, blogs, and YouTube) were used in the domain of Malaysian politics during the 13th general election campaigning period in order to set the agenda to form public opinion. The study found that Facebook was the most popular social media tool that political parties actively engaged with during the 13th general election campaign period. Apart from that, issues pertaining to the election were significantly highlighted by the political parties in social media, especially Facebook. However, other issues that were also important to the people such as the economy, crime, and education were not sufficiently highlighted during the election campaign period. This indicates that the political parties influence the public on what to think about using social media.

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.1-22
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• 2019

In the age of continuous media change and the coexistence of multiple forms of media, the relationship between the public's media use and political participation is an urgent area of study. This paper makes use of large national sample surveys from 2002, 2011, and 2015, summarizes the change of the public's media use by descriptive statistics analysis, and finds that while the Internet has become an important communication channel, the use of Internet for political information and political participation is still overestimated. Compared to the weak impact of different media channels for political information on political participation, the frequency of media exposure and Internet use play a significant role in political participation. Because of the negative effect of the frequency of Internet use on political participation, the democratization function of the Internet needs to be treated with caution. This paper describes media use and its roles in contemporary China, analyzes the impact of media use on political participation, and extends the cross-cultural application of the theory of political communication.

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.178-199
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• 2022

Two surveys for exploring communicative paths toward political participation were conducted with relatively large samples of Americans (N = 1001) and South Koreans (N = 1166). Hierarchical regression modeling of the relationships among demographics, personal networks, news consumption, and cross-cutting discussion and political participation demonstrated mostly commonalities between the two samples, including the interaction between political diversity and Twitter usage for news access but with distinct effect sizes of cross-cutting discussion on political participation. We attribute the differences to the two countries' distinct histories of democracy and culture, and the commonalities to the general relationships between cross-cutting discussion and political participation moderated by strong ties political homogeneity.

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.228-247
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• 2015

Politics is defined as who gets what, when, and how. Communication is defined as the process, outcomes and effects of message transmission through a medium. Thus political communication in Asia, the most dynamic and uncertain region of the world, has been very dense, requiring rigorous scientific analysis and culturally sensitive reflection. Mass media brought about a revolution in political communication in the last century. In the 21st century, complex monitory devices from the state and international organizations and from the society and transnational groups have transformed the features of political communication. It has triggered another revolution in political communication. Illustrations are given focusing on Asia. A theoretical reflection from the angle of political science is attempted focusing on political communication medium and its effects. I compare no medium (face-to-face communication), mass media, and social media in relation to their effects.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.121-133
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• 2018

This study begins with focus on the public opinion and political views on embracing Yemeni refugees in Jeju. The public opinion is demanding amendment or even abolition of the Refugee Act. The argument opposing Yemeni refugees is persuasive enough in terms of public order and safety, cultural conflicts and economic interests, but it is going against the universal and authentic values that must be pursued by a forward-looking society. It is natural that the power exerting political discretion keeps an eye on public opinion. However, no matter how many people express it, unjustified public opinion must not be a foundation for political decision. This study will examine the shadows of public opinion and related concepts for those reasons, and review Augustine's concept of 'love' as a value to refer to in making a communal decision. Conflicts lead to insecurity and rift. Without sensus communis (common sense), the rift will not be healed. This study raises the need to resolve such conflicting state and seeks insight from Augustine.

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.63-82
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• 2016

This paper proposes a paradigm for research on broadcast political interviews. Developed using a series of studies, the paradigm introduces core aspects and questions that should be addressed when examining political interviews in a particular society. This paradigm will enable researchers to collect detailed accounts of the interaction between interviewers and interviewees, the structure and tone of the questions posed to interviewees and the interviewees' communicative style when addressing such questions, and the strategies employed by the participants to pursue their goals. It is hoped that the paradigm will encourage the interest and facilitate the study of televised political interviews particularly from the nationally, culturally, and socially diversified Asian countries. Gathering detailed data from non-Western societies in Asia will also facilitate our understanding of the function and effect of political communication from a cross-cultural perspective.

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.207-225
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• 2019

Despite a vast amount of research on the relationship between personality traits and political attitudes, little is known about the effects of personality on individuals' support for the political system of their own country. Using three nationally representative datasets from South Korea, the present study shows that the personality dimensions - particularly, Agreeableness - are positively associated with political support, which encompasses confidence in the presidency, confidence in the government, and national pride. These findings suggest that two facets of Agreeableness - trust and compliance - are activated in expressing individuals' support for their political system. Thus, mobilizing citizens who score high on Agreeableness is essential to maintain political stability and legitimacy, but such a task appears to be difficult, given that ideological polarization discourages them from being politically active due to their propensity to conflict avoidance.