ABSTRACT:- This study aims to determine the effect of political advertising and word-of-mouth on trust, the image of prospective regional head and the decision of novice voters in the elections in Batam City, Riau Islands Province. The study population was 13,150 novice voters. Using the Slovin formula, the number of samples was 389 respondents. The results showed that: Political advertising influences the image of prospective regional head, trust, and voter decisions. Words of mouth have no significant effect on the image of prospective regional heads, and words of mouth have a significant effect on trust and voter decisions. The image of the prospective regional head influences the voters’ trust, trust and decision. Trust in prospective regional heads influences voter decisions in Batam City, Riau Islands Province. Considering that words of mouth have not yet played a role in the image of regional head candidates, it is recommended that regional head candidates improve and conduct intensive communication of novice voter participants with positive stories about the programs of regional head candidates. Also invites friends and family and even invites parties that support it to be more effective in providing positive information about the regional head candidates that it promotes

KEYWORDS: – political advertising, words of mouth, image of regional head candidate, trust, voter decision