The effect of the political leader's level of "Trust" on the "Credibility" perception of the political messages: Case of the Turkish general parliamentary election on November 1, 2015

Trust is an important factor in the individual's perception of the environment. Even if trust is interpreted as a sense growing voluntarily, it is actually formed as a result of perception management. In this regard, it is one of the significant concepts that needs to be addressed in political communication in which persuasion is the basis. A well-managed trust process affects voter behaviour. The study investigates the effect of the trustworthiness of the political party leaders with a group in the parliament after the General Parliamentary Election on November 1, 2015 in Turkey on the credibility of the messages given to the voters by their parties in the election campaigns. The study has been performed in two stages on the same sample group consisting of the students of Faculty of Communication, Gümüshane University. It has been concluded in the study that political leaders' level of trust has a significant effect on the credibility levels of the messages given to the voters in the election campaign.