Are Negative Political Ads Effective?

Only if you don't know what is going on or you are too dumb to think for yourself.

Only if they hold water

Yes, they are effective because many people don't stop to 'Think'; they just accept on blind faith, especially if it's from a source that they like. I don't have a problem with negative ads, as I'm able to decifer how much truth is in each.

Not for me.....they tend to make me empathize with the "smearee" and want to disregard everything the trash talker says.I hate character assassining dirty campaigns.

I ignore them.

If you want to admit it or not, seeing that a presidential candidate is a racist or a drug addict doesn't make you want to vote for them

Negative political advertising seems to have reached epidemic proportions, as usual, among the general public nationwide as well as the chattering media class.

Negative campaigning may keep people away from the polls for three different reasons. First, negative advertising may discourage supporters of the candidate who is attacked, Attack advertising might distroy support for the opposition, just as advertising in general reinforces partisan preferences. For a supporter reacting to negative information, dropping out may be easier than switching to the attacker.

It also makes the public free with both candidates. negative campaigning may diminish the power of civic duty and may undermine the legitimacy of the entire electoral proccess. Campaigns that generate more negative than positive messages may leave voters embittered toward the candidates and the rules of the game.
............Ajewole Naomi(caleb unversirty,imota, lagos)........................

The reflect the candidate that the ad purports to support . . . or at least the party that the candidate supposedly represents!

I believe nothing and no one,....LOL

Sometimes it does, but in most cases they seem to turn people off. I do think that people are sick and tired of all the adds

fcuk no

Most political ads are a joke and downright misleading and the negative ones turn people off. I believe it is OK to state accurate facts if they happen to be negative but ads that are negative just for the sake of character assassination are not effective and I just quit listening.

I hate that they are effective, but the evidence is there. They are effective, and that is why there are so many of them.

No

It seems that dishing dirt pays. Can you dig it, man?

Yes...for exactly the same reason that news is filled with bad stuff.
If it bleeds it leads.

Unfortunately, yes.

Totally effective at their purpose, which is to sour the electorate and make them not want to vote at all. That's the only way Repugnicans can win. That, and mass-disenfranchise voters from largely Democratic areas.

You wish!

I always assume its all lies! Or a twist on words. I just tune it out.

Don't blame you. This crap is waring thin. I'd rather hear about the issues and the solutions.

Because the vast majority of people (especially in the states) are to arrogant and lazy to do any actual leg work on their own about the facts. Instead they trust completely in media, party politicians, business moguls, and religious leaders, to feed them lies flavored to there taste.

I wouldn't vote for leaches like then

Effective at derailing relevant discussion and enforcing negative feelings; not effective at changing minds or improving the country. Case in point: The responses to this question.

I would hope that most people would realize its all just part of the game thats what they do during campaigning..

Too bad Senator John McCain didn't use attack ads against Obama in 2008.

Hillary and Obama used them to attack

Unfortunately, our society seems to be motivated more easily by negative emotions than by positive. Ask someone about what they like and they might get a little excited, ask them about something they hate and they will get VENOMOUS. It's a LOT easier to make people hate the other guy than it is to make them like you...

Stupid question SH News. Of course they work. That's why campaigns run them.

Yes, because it seems like the majority of Americans take everything 'as read', despite the spin involved.

Yes they do for the foolish , the uninformed, and the youth and politically unsophisicated , the ones who just dont give a damn or the follow the sheep crowd. Ie >>"Obama 's gonna pay my mortgage types!!"



If the facts are truthful and correct and negative ad can be very powerful.

Unfortunately , lies and misconceptions make big impressions to the types of people mentioned above.

"Gray? What's that. We live in a 2-bit world, mister! Black and white, that's it! There's NEVER a third choice!" -_-

I see negative ads in this light:

"Hey! I don't want you to see all of the things I'VE screwed up, so I'm going to distract you with this libelous ad about my opponent."

Every time I see a negative ad, I think less of the people involved in making it. Even ads that point out the negative ads are negative ads, and I think less of those people, too.

If there is ever a presidential candidate that uses only positive ads, that will be the first decent candidate we've had in ages.

We all say we don't like them and shouldn't. I'd like to think that I am immune to them but probably not if I'm honest with my self.

They don't cause anyone to switch sides. They only effect busy people who are usually uninformed- it helps them off the fence. They just backfire on people who know anything at all about the candidates.

Actually the negative ads make me think that the person that posted them has nothing good to say about themselves. I mean if the only thing you have is negative to say about your opponent what does that say about you?

Sadly I know these ads are effective. If more people would research candidates running for office, educating themselves on the good and bad of all the candidates, then as an educated voting base people wouldn't be so easily swayed by a 60 second ad.

It does not take much to read between the lies. We have had 3 1//2 years of Obama and if we do not know what he promised and what he provided then we are the stupid ones..

I personally have little respect for political ads in general, debates are what draw me in.

I can't believe the majority answered this "yes."

That doesn't mean the majority agrees with the practice. I don't like negative ads and take the information with a grain of salt, but clearly they work. They can also backfire big time. If a campaign distorts the truth and the truth comes out it can be devastating to the campaign that ran the ad.

Yes! They effectively take voters minds off what the real issues are. Secondly, they are not about what the candidate did in the past or plans to do, so the plan is not to entice people to vote for the candidate based on their record or ambitions but to make people not to want to vote for the opposition based on knee jerk and / or emotional issues. The process is like the campaigns saying, "I think you are so dumb, I bet you can't figure out what I'm doing."