Negative Campaigning: An Analysis of U.S. Senate Elections.
By Richard R. Lau and Gerald M. Pomper. Lanham, MD: Rowman &
Littlefield, 2004. 177p. $26.95.
If you think that negative campaigning has come to dominate the
American electoral landscape, depresses voter turnout, is particularly
effective in winning votes, and/or is detrimental to democracy, this
book is a must read. Richard Lau and Gerald Pomper investigate a series of
questions intended to illuminate these concerns. They utilize an extensive
data set based on U.S. Senate elections from 1992 through 2002. Their
findings are often quite startling. Negative campaigning does not appear
to have the deleterious effects conventional wisdom would suggest.