This examination of black students' perceptions of Jesse Jackson and his campaign for the presidency found student perceptions to be increasingly favorable throughout the 1984 campaign. Three independent samples of undergraduate students in 22 speech classes at a predominantly black university were drawn before, during, and immediately after the November general election. Self-administered questionnaires recorded student assessments of Jackson, his campaigning organization, the breadth of his appeal, and his treatment in the press. Credibility was measured as an additive index composed of assessments of honesty, intelligence, experience, articulateness, and knowledge of foreign affairs. Primary factors examined as sources of variance in perceptions were newspaper reading, television viewing, interest in politics, involvement in the Jackson campaign, sex, and grade level. Involvement in the campaign was the most important contribution to variance in all three sample periods. Media use is seen to influence perceptions primarily through its influence on interest and participation, although television news viewing maintained an independent path to credibility in the pre- and mid-primary samples. (LH)