Do Political Attack Ads Really Work?
There is only one reason campaigns spend so much time and effort on political attack ads. They work. While they may work to varying degrees of effectiveness, there can be no doubt that, at least at some level, they do work. While political science majors write reports arguing both sides and studies report findings both for and against the effectiveness of political attack ads, campaigns see it clearly. Many associated with the U.S. presidential campaign of John Kerry in 2004 blamed attack ads for costing their candidate the election. That year, a group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ran a number of ads questioning Kerry’s service in Vietnam. Political attack ads, especially through the medium of television, had their beginning during the 1964 election between Lyndon Johnson and Barry Goldwater. In an ad simply titled “Daisy,” a little girl is seen counting petals off a flower. As the scene zooms in on her eye, a nuclear bomb explodes. Johnson then provides a voice over promoting
