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October 9, 2008

Presidential campaign ads go negative

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[Transcript]

ATLANTA – Viewing an attack ad this campaign season may seem a lot like watching a horror movie, says Mary Stuckey, a Georgia State University professor of communication and political science. And with less than a month left before the presidential election, voters are already seeing an increase in ads appealing to their fear.   

STUCKEY: The more an ad starts looking like a horror film, the more likely it is that that’s an attack ad. The more the ad looks like a documentary, the more likely it is that that’s a policy based ad. Voters can actually use those kinds of cues to pay attention to what kind of information they’re getting and then to evaluate that information. There’s a difference between disagreeing on policy and saying that someone is a bad person. To question someone’s judgment is one thing, but to say that they are therefore not fit for the office or to imply that they lack ethics or honor, that gets a little more problematic I think, and it’s something we want to watch out for. (length: 0:49)

Weird sounds, ominous music and stark color contrast are typical cues of an attack ad. And Stuckey says that negative attack ads have become so prevalent today because they have been shown to work.

STUCKEY: Whenever somebody falls behind in a campaign, one of the first tools they’re going to pull out is negativity because if you can’t increase your own favorability rating, you equalize things by making someone else less popular. So as McCain slips behind in the national polls and in many statewide polls, he’s got fewer choices about what kinds of things to do and so he’s going to go negative. Obama, who would probably prefer to stay statesman like and above those kinds of tactics, won’t be able to do that because you can’t let negative campaigning or attack ads go unanswered. (length: 0:47)

But with both candidates campaigning on platforms of bringing change to the White House, negative campaigning is risky.

STUCKEY: People don’t want to hear politicians squabble. They’re worried. There are very serious policy issues on the table right now. There’s a war, there’s a very bad economy. People are concerned about the future. They don’t know what to do. They don’t want to listen to people squabble.  (length: 0:19)

Going negative in a campaign ad is nothing new. But will John McCain and Barack Obama take negative campaigning to an all time low?

STUCKEY: We tend to assume always that the campaign we’re listening to is always the most negative campaign in history, but we have a long history in this country of negative campaigning. The things that were said about Abraham Lincoln were pretty scurrilous in his time. We have had sex scandals where candidates have been accused of having illegitimate children during campaigns, and financial scandals and all kinds of scandals that come up during campaigns. Generally speaking, presidential candidates prefer to remain statesman like and there is a long tradition of allowing one’s vice president to do the dirty work for you. Eisenhower certainly used Nixon very well to that regard. Nixon used Agnew that way. McCain seems willing to both do it himself and to use Palin that way. Joe Biden will gleefully jump into this if given the opportunity. These guys know how to attack with a smile, which is if you can attack and look charming at the same time – always a good thing. (length: 1:09)

For Georgia State University RadioLine, I’m Leah Harris.