Question

Most people, when asked, will say that they do not like negative ads. However, negative advertising does work and, therefore, it is used quite often. What type of campaign material most appeals to you? What is not appealing? If you were running for office, what kind of approach would you take?

Answer 1

Negative campaigning or mudslinging is the process of deliberate spreading negative information about someone or something to worsen the public image of the described.

Deliberate spreading of such information can be motivated either by honest desire of the campaigner to warn others against real dangers or deficiencies of the described, or by the campaigner's dishonest ideas on methods of winning in political, business or other spheres of competition against an honest rival.

The research analyzed was limited to surveys and laboratory experiments, both of which have drawbacks. The typical survey looks at the correlation between television ad exposure and public opinion, yet that TV advertising is neither targeted nor received randomly, so the apparent correlation between perceptions of a candidate and exposure to negative campaigns may be misleading. In the lab, although exposure to TV advertising can be randomly assigned, participants are exposed to ads in a contrived setting, and their candidate preferences are usually measured shortly after. Thus it's unclear whether the effects of ads persist after participants leave the lab. After all, in an actual campaign, people seldom vote immediately after viewing TV ads.

To overcome these limitations, it is important to study the effectiveness of TV ads on voter preferences during a campaign. In a study that my colleagues and I conducted in collaboration with the 2006 election campaign of Governor Rick Perry of Texas, 18 media markets in the state were randomly assigned to receive different levels of pro-Perry TV ads, and daily tracking polls gauged whether Perry's numbers improved as a function of increased advertising. The results suggested that advertising effects are short-lived. Perhaps the effects would have lasted longer than a week had the ads revealed memorable damning information about the opponent. But no field experiment has done a head-to-head comparison of TV advertising tone.

Although evidence on the effectiveness of negative political ads is inconclusive, campaign consultants clearly believe in their power, which explains why negative ads are so often used.

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Right reasons to run for office:

• To help your community. This is the USA classic reason of running for office. You see your community needs help and you believe you have the skills to fill that need.
• Advocating for causes. There is a specific cause or policy that is affecting your community and you feel that you can have a real impact on the issue by running for office.

Wrong reasons to run:

• The party asked me to. Just because someone asks you to run does not mean they have your best interest in mind. This could be a great start if you have other reasons for running, but running for office to please someone else is always a bad idea.
• Revenge against the incumbent. The reason that “he did something to me so I’m going to beat him” is not a good reason to begin running for office. Revenge is a horrible reason to run, no matter how bad the opponent is. Make sure there are other motivations that drive you.
• Because I can win. It’s important that you have a chance of success but don’t run just because you think you will win.
• This will be my only opportunity - I get that there is a lot of luck in politics and picking the right opportunity is important but that is different than thinking you will only have one opportunity. Be thoughtful about why you are running and make sure you pick the right opportunity to win, not just the opportunity that is in front of you.