John Zaller and the RAS Model

Receive
o In order to have new political information affect your opinion, you have to receive it
o People with little or a ton of political knowledge are hard to persuade, while people with a medium amount of knowledge are more fickle

Accept
o People don't accept some information because it conflicts with their preexisting positions - cognitive dissonance
o IE "I hate Regan, there is no way he could have been a good president"

Sample - we take a Sample of that information and what does it provide us with.

In order to have new political information to affect you , you have to let it affect you.

People that are low in political knowledge would be the easiest to persuade.

The information that protects your previous knowledge you weight with much more importance. You don't want to accept the things that go against your prior political beliefs. This was why during the 80's no democrats wanted to give Reagan credit.