本研究意圖了解於2002年台北市長競選期間，媒體議題與公 眾議題是否趨同，以及相較於對於在位者，公眾對於較爲陌生的 挑戰者之形象認知是否隨時間而與媒體議題愈相關。經由選舉前 期以及後期的兩次電話調查以及三大報的内容分析發現，不論是 競選前期或是後期，議題設定第一層級與第二層級的假設分別獲 得支持。在候選人形象的議題設定上，可以看出由媒體議題設定 公眾議題的可能性高於公眾議題設定媒體議題。本研究發現挑戰 者形象的趨同較在位者更明顯。本文也探討不同選民屬性與演化 趨同的關係。

This study extends recent research on campaign agenda setting by examining the convergence of issues and image attributes for both media agenda and public agenda in the 2002 Taipei Mayor election. We hypothesize that there is an agenda convergence during the course of the campaign for the media and the public. We use a data set that includes information from a two- wave survey of voters and content analysis on three major newspapers. The agenda evolutions are evidenced on issues and images of the candidates’ image attributes. We also find that the effects of agenda setting from the challenger are stronger than that from the incumbent. The differences among various characteristics of the voters on agenda learning are also discussed.