Negative Political Advertising: Some Empirical Findings

Abstract A survey was conducted to examine the effects of negative political advertising — advertising which seeks to degrade perceptions of an opponent. Respondents were constituents of a state Assembly district in which candidates employed negative appeals. Results indicate that negative political advertising evokes negative affect toward both the targeted opponent and the sponsor. A relationship between party identification and response to negative advertising suggests that a negative strategy is not likely to be effective for a minority party candidate.