Campaign Ads

[esophagus]

Why can NO American campaign ads tout the good things about the candidate themselves, but get by on just trashing the opposition. I see this at every level, but especially for president. Depressing and annoying. Everytime I watch one it makes me think less about that candidate. Do they not have accomplishments of their own?

[straylightrise]

People are more likely to vote against someone than for someone. UNLESS of course the person they are voting for is some miracle man who can do no wrong. Obviously that's not the case here and will likely never be:

Thus: find stuff that will make people say: I WILL NOT VOTE FOR CANDIDATE X SO I WILL VOTE FOR CANDIDATE Y

Also it does energize some but not ALL party supporters to see some good ol fighting.

HOWEVER: most Americans dislike negative ads - which is why the Obama campaign was doing so well. Then they decided to go negative and where they SHOULD have pulled away (in the summer with high gas prices) they stuck around in the +/- 3pts area. That means that the polls are a statistical push due to the degree of error.

If Obama had gone totally NON-Negative I think he would be around 9pts in all polls and leading in all the battleground states. McCain has ran some negative ads as well - he's an old GOP curmudgeon - DUH

If you think now is bad WAIT till 3-4 weeks before the election. Just turn off ur tvs during commercials its going to be a UFC match

[Mal]

I like our system where political avertising on TV isn't allowed. The only time they can do it is in a very limited number of party political broadcasts which are on all the major channels and given to each party equally. Means they don't need to waste a load of cash on them, they have more reason to be positive (quality over quantity) and they are easily ignored for those who don't care about them.

[masherscf]

It was to do with efficiency. Negative campaigns work. The problem is not the media. The problem is the people.

[darknessgp]

Why can NO American campaign ads tout the good things about the candidate themselves, but get by on just trashing the opposition. I see this at every level, but especially for president. Depressing and annoying. Everytime I watch one it makes me think less about that candidate. Do they not have accomplishments of their own?

I've always took it as they never have anything good to say about themselves. The same way they never seem to be able to actually answer questions during a debate. They always side step it and/or try to tell some long story that is very remotely related.