A study was conducted to determine the political issues of the 1980 presidential campaigns as expressed by televised political spot advertisements during the primaries. Issue information was coded for 140 30- and 60-second political commercials. An advertisement's issue score was defined as the number of terms used that matched terms from a predetermined list of current topics of national interest. The total number of issues mentioned was 649, 20% of which belonged to the national well-being category. Next highest was the economy, followed by the energy and foreign policy/foreign relations categories. Republican spots focused over a quarter of their issue references on government management and federalism, while both parties gave roughly comparable attention to the economy, energy, national security, and national well-being issues. The major issues covered in incumbent Jimmy Carter's ads were national security and foreign policy, while for Edward Kennedy they were foreign policy, economic, and energy issues, and for Ronald Reagan, federalism and national security. Among the other candidates' spots, George Bush's commercials mainly dealt with the economy, government management, and national security, while those of John Anderson focused on domestic and economic issues, energy, foreign policy, and government management. (HTH)