The effects of negative political direct comparative television advertisements on voter evaluations and voting decisions of viewers

Negative political advertising is extensively used in political races of today. A tool of persuasion, negative advertising has been studied since the days of Hitler and Roosevelt where there seemed to be a manipulative influence of leaders on a so-called gullible public. The effects of these advertisements have been studied over the years. This thesis looks at four different effects of negative political advertising: the effect of turning voters away from the polls; the backlash effect where the voter becomes more negative toward the sponsor of an advertisement; no effect on the voter; and the effect of turning the voter against the target of the advertisement which means that the advertisement worked as intended. The study will specifically examine negative direct comparative television advertising.;The purpose of this study is to add to a field of research which holds the evidence about the positive or negative effects of negative comparative political television advertising on voter evaluations. In order to test the effects of this type of political advertising, university students were exposed to both negative comparative political television ads and positive political television ads from opposing candidates. Through a series of questionnaires, the respondents gave their evaluations as voters on the candidates. These responses were analyzed to determine the various effects that negative comparative political television advertising has on voter evaluations and voter decision making of viewers.