Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T06:21:54.516Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Does Attack Advertising Demobilize the Electorate?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Stephen Ansolabehere ,
Shanto Iyengar ,
Adam Simon  and
Nicholas Valentino
Stephen Ansolabehere
Affiliation:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Shanto Iyengar
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
Adam Simon
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
Nicholas Valentino
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We address the effects of negative campaign advertising on turnout. Using a unique experimental design in which advertising tone is manipulated within the identical audiovisual context, we find that exposure to negative advertisements dropped intentions to vote by 5%. We then replicate this result through an aggregate-level analysis of turnout and campaign tone in the 1992 Senate elections. Finally, we show that the demobilizing effects of negative campaigns are accompanied by a weakened sense of political efficacy. Voters who watch negative advertisements become more cynical about the responsiveness of public officials and the electoral process.

Type
Articles
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 88 , Issue 4 , December 1994 , pp. 829 - 838
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ansolabehere, Stephen, and Gerber, Alan. N.d. “The Mismeasure of Campaign Spending.” Journal of Politics. Forthcoming.Google Scholar
Ansolabehere, Stephen, and Iyengar, Shanto. 1991. “The Electoral Effects of Issues and Attacks in Campaign Advertising.” Presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Washington.Google Scholar
Ansolabehere, Stephen, Iyengar, Shanto, and Valentino, Nick. 1993. “The Effects of Campaign Advertising on Voter Turnout.” University of California, Los Angeles. Typescript.Google Scholar
Bartels, Larry M. 1988. Presidential Primaries and the Dynamics of Public Choice. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartels, Larry M. 1993. “Messages Received: The Political Impact of Media Exposure.” American Political Science Review 87:267–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Basil, Michael, Schooler, Caroline, and Reeves, Byron. 1991. “Positive and Negative Political Advertising: Effectiveness of Advertisements and Perceptions of Candidates.” In Television and Political Advertising, vol. 1, Psychological Processes, ed. Biocca, Frank. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Berelson, Bernard, Lazarsfeld, Paul, and Mc, WilliamPhee. 1954. Voting: A Study of Opinion Formation in a Presidential Campaign. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Bode, Kenneth. 1992. “Pull the Plug, Empower the Voters.” Quill 80:10–14.Google Scholar
Brady, Henry, and Johnston, Richard. 1987. “What's the Primary Message: Horse Race or Issue Journalism?” In Media and Momentum, ed. Orren, Gary R. and Polsby, Nelson W.. Chatham: Chatham House.Google Scholar
Campbell, Angus et al. , 1966. Erections and the Political Order. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Campbell, Donald T., and Stanley, Julian T.. 1969. Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Research. Chicago: Rand-McNally.Google Scholar
Dionne, E. J. Jr., 1991. Why Americans Hate Politics. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Ferris, Charles, and Leahy, Terranee. 1990. “Red Lions, Tigers, and Bears: Broadcast Contest Regulation and the First Amendment.” Catholic University Law Review 38:309.Google Scholar
Garramone, Gina M. 1985. “Effects of Negative Political Advertising: The Roles of Sponsor and Rebuttal.” Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media 29:147–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garramone, Gina M., Atkin, Charles K., Pinkleton, Bruce E., and Cole, Richard T.. 1990. “Effects of Negative Advertising on the Political Process.” Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media 34:299–311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hagstrom, Jerry, and Guskind, Robert. 1988. “In the Gutter.” National Journal, 5 November, 2782–90.Google Scholar
Hagstrom, Jerry, and Guskind, Robert. 1992. “Airborne Attacks.” National Journal, 31 October, 2477–82.Google Scholar
Hovland, Carl. 1959. “Reconciling Conflicting Results from Survey and Experimental Studies of Attitude Change.” American Psychologist 14:8–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jamieson, Kathleen H. 1992. Dirty Politics: Deception, Distraction, and Democracy. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kosterman, Richard J. 1991. “Political Spot Advertising and Routes to Persuasion: The Role of Symbolic Content.” Ph.D. diss., University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Lazarsfeld, Paul, Berelson, Bernard, and Gaudet, Hazel. 1948. The People's Choice. 2d ed.New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Lichter, S. Robert, Amundson, Daniel, and Noyes, Richard. 1988. The Video Campaign. Washington: American Enterprise Institute.Google Scholar
Neale, Thomas. 1991. Negative Campaigning in National Politics: An Overview. Report No. 91–775 GOV. Washington: Congressional Research Service.Google Scholar
O'Neill, Robert M. 1992. “Regulating Speech To Cleanse Political Campaigns.” Capitol University Law Review 21:575–91.Google Scholar
Patterson, Samuel, and Caldeira, Gregory. 1993. “Getting Out the Vote: Participation in Gubernatorial Campaigns.” American Political Science Review 77:675–89.Google Scholar
Patterson, Thomas, and McClure, Robert. 1976. The Unseeing Eye: The Myth of Television Power in National Politics. New York: Putnam.Google Scholar
Pfau, Michael, and Kenski, Henry T., 1990. Attack Politics: Strategy and Defense. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Polsby, Nelson W. 1983. Consequences of Party Reform. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rosen, J., and Taylor, Paul. 1992. The New News and the Old News: The Press and Politics in the 1990s. New York: Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
Rosenstone, Steven, and Hansen, Mark. 1993. Mobilization, Participation, and Democracy in America. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Rubin, Donald. 1974. “Estimating Causal Effects in Randomized and Non-Randomized Studies.” Journal of Educational Psychology 66:688–701.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sabato, Larry. 1991. Feeding Frenzy: How Attack Journalism Has Transformed American Politics. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Thorson, Esther, Christ, William G., and Caywood, Clarke. 1991. “Effects of Issue-Image Strategies, Attack and Support Appeals, Music, and Visual Content in Political Commercials.” Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media 35:465–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wattenberg, Martin P. 1984. Decline of American Political Parties, 1952–1980. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Wattenberg, Martin P. 1991. The Rise of Candidate-centered Politics: Presidential Elections of the 1980s. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.