12. Electoral Campaigns: Negative Campaigning Flashcards
negative ad
an ad where one talks about one’s opponent and deficient nature of his/her programs, accomplishments, qualifications, character, etc.
Negative ads are part of an overall campaign
five types of campaigns
Purely negative
Negative + comparative elements
Comparative (you neutrally state current or other party’s policy, then explain your own)
Positive + comparative elements
Purely positive
roots negative campaigning
not typically American
anti-establishment parties have always done negative campaigning.
however, what is typically American, is that mainstream parties do it
anti-establishment parties always done it
mainstream parties also –> american
three theories on impact of negative campaigning
- negative impact theory
- no impact theory
- positive impact theory
negative campaigning - theory of negative impact
argues that negativity is unique: since most people live in a mostly positive world, the negative ad stands out.
People also tend to avoid costs, and the negative ads highlight the costs to electing the opponent.
negativity stands out / avoiding costs
negative campaigning - theory of no impact
claims that people tend to avoid politics, and even if they watch the ads, they will know that the source is not credible.
avoiding politics / know source is not credible
negative campaigning - theory of positive impact
argues that ads convey information and thereby discriminate between candidates, making it easier to pick a candidate.
The ads also trigger emotional responses and thus trigger interest in the election and a higher turnout
emotional response –> interest elections
discriminate –> easier pick
emotional response –> interest eletions
negativity is more important for:
name recognition challengers (i.e. relatively unknown politicians can benefit from negativity because they become more well known).
correctly identifying campaign topics
–> public getting to know relatively unknown candidates and getting to know campaign topics
name challengers / identifying campaign topics
negative ads work best if they are:
about an issue (not just about a candidate)
about a topic that is considered to be relevant for citizens
comparative (not pure negative, this is too malicious)
cource of fear (instead of outrage or hatred)
issue related / relevant topic / comparative / fear
effects negative campaigning
Negative campaigning has several effects on who to vote for. Some possible effects are the activation of partisan attachment, or the presentation of counterfactual information with vote-switching as a consequence.
partijdige gehechtheid/ counterfactual info and vote switching
Criticism is deemed as fair by voters when it is about:
- talking one way and voting another
- the candidate’s business practices
- taking money from interest groups
talking one way, doing antoher / business practices / money from interest groups
results negative campaigning
can lead to lower voter turnout, as people are fed up with the negativity. This leads to spillover to views about the whole political system.
This however depends on the content and tone: mudslinging about irrelevant topics decreases voter turnout, whereas negative ads on relevant topics presented in a civil manner can increase turnout
lower as well as higher turnout
determining factors for negative campaigning adoption
political system, financing rules and media system
adopting negative campaigning: USA
- Not in government
- Ideology (Usual that Republicans attack and Democrats retaliate)
- Bad polling (little to lose, lot to win)
adopting negative campaigning: outside USA
- Incumbents go positive but they attract attacks.
- Extreme parties are more likely to use negativity.
- A logic of retaliation and reciprocity drives negativity.
- In competitive elections, everyone is more likely to go negative.
- Negativity occurs less in multi-party systems.
