Political Advertising
Over the weekend, political ads have taken over the commercial breaks on television. The majority of the ones I’ve seen have all been extremely negative. On page 107 in out text, Cutlip tells us the history and creating of the public opinion poll. I recently read an article on MSNBC.com (I couldn’t find it again to link it, sorry!) of how important those polls are this year and how they are framing the majority of candidates messages this year strictly around this data. While these polls are an excellent tool to truly see the public’s feelings and opinions, how much are political candidates using this just to tell us what we want to hear? Can we trust the genuiness of their message and platforms, if we know - that they know - exactly what we want them to say? Do the negative ads really work to influence public opinions? How many people vote for a candidate just because they don’t indulge in the negative advertising, instead of the other way around?
posted by Anonymous @ 10/22/2006 09:56:00 AM
2 Comments:
I think that negative political ads influence people that are less politically informed. The negative ads do not influence people who are better informed politically because they tend to know more about the candidates and more about the issues, so they know when something is being sensationalized in the press or in ads. Someone who may not have a very informed knowledge of the candidates or the issues may vote for a particular candidate based on the negative ads. They may vote for someone because their ads against them were not as negative or they may vote for someone because the ads against them were very negative and they figure the opposing party is just exaggerating.
Candidates do pay attention to public opinion polls, that’s no secret, but I do not think they change their campaign based on what the polls say. Public opinion polls tend to change quickly and often and if a candidate were to strictly base their campaign message on the polls, they would have a very disjointed and poor campaign.
I think that negative ads do influence people, but not in the ways that we always think. Sometimes I think it makes the voter tired of the political process, and become apathetic and does not vote. On the other hand, sometimes it causes the voter to vote against the politician that created the advertisement instead of his or her opponent. Because, “Within an environment of skepticism, many view communication from elected officials as mere propaganda” (Cutlip et al, pg. 437). Then, there are people that will believe the negativity and the ad will work the way it was meant to.
I know if I see a candidate engaging in negative advertising, it turns me off to that person, whoever they may be. But when a candidate takes the high road and does not engage it, the idea of voting for him or her increases. Ultimately, I vote based on the issues, not the advertising. But in local elections, where not is much is known about this, it is a very important factor.
Part of being a informed voter is looking at everything a candidate says through a critical lens and figuring out if it is worthwhile or political jargon.
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