How Can We Size Your Core Issue? Assessing Salience Validity Using Psychophysiology

Much research in public opinion attempts to operationalize and measure individual issue salience. Measuring this concept presents its own set of challenges, due in part to the fact that studies rely mostly on so-called "subjective" methods to measure the strength of attitudes. This paper aims to transcend the classical methods used in surveys to measure salience by comparing the results of these common approaches with results obtained with physiological measures. Using the Confirmatory Factor Analysis Model with the Correlated Uniquenesses method, correlations between three survey question methods and two physiological measurements are compared to measure individual issue salience. Results show a strong correlation between all the measures tested and therefore add validation to survey approaches used in social sciences to measure issue salience. The results therefore demonstrate that individuals know which issues trigger the most reactions in them.