Negative Campaign Ads: The Downfall of Democracy?

Perhaps the most scrutinized area of campaign advertising is the negative attack ad.  This technique, which has become ubiquitous in campaign politics, has been at the forefront of criticism by experts, journalists and the American people alike.  Thus far, several accusations have been made about negative advertising, including: they discourage the electorate from voting in the election or even participating in the political process in general, the ads are personal attacks on the character of an opponent rather than being issue related, they destroy the quality of democracy in the US.

Important to my research will be the finding out what evidence exists to either support or refute those indictments.  For this section I will rely heavily on journal articles and data regarding the connection that exists between negative ad campaigns and voter turnout/attitude.  Before I summarize the results of that research (which will be posted in my next blog), I would like to pose a couple of questions to the blog audience and review your responses:

How do you feel when you see a negative campaign ad?  Do they ever change your opinion of the opponent or the candidate who sponsored the message?  Do you feel negative campaign advertising is a problem in US elections?  Has it gotten worse?  Has a negative campaign ad ever changed your vote?

I look forward to reading your responses and please don’t hesitate to ask any questions that you would like me to address regarding negative campaign advertising.

For an infamous example of negative campaign advertising, watch the clip below from Carly for California (skip to 2:20 to witness the "demon sheep").