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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
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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

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