By KUNA
Washington : Negative political “attack ads” have a more powerful impact on young voters’ mindset than positive ads, according to a field study released Tuesday.
University researchers at the University of Notre Dame and the University of Texas found that although negative political ads are disliked, they had the potential to change preference and behavior in young voters in favor of the advertiser.
Researchers asked participants, aged 18 to 23, to gauge their preferred candidate in the 2004 presidential election on a seven point scale: definitely Bush, most likely Bush, leaning toward Bush, undecided, leaning toward Kerry, most likely Kerry, and definitely Kerry.
Afterwards, they showed participants real advertisements used during the 2004 presidential election and found that for even candidate supports, an anti-opponent ad was more likely to be thought as less persuasive than a positive pro-candidate ad.
But “the notion that negative ads may be disliked yet influential is paradoxical,” the researchers wrote.
Negative ads prompted more movement along the seven-point scale, showing either stronger or weaker support for the participant’s preferred candidate.
About fourteen percent who saw an ad attacking their favorite candidate said they more strongly supported their favorite candidate.
However, the same percentage said that after viewing an attack ad against their candidate their support weakened more in favor of the advertising candidate. Positive ads had little impact on voter persuasion.
“Advertising perceived by voters or consumers as negative carries a potential cost. However, these ads also have the potential to change preference and behavior in ways that benefit the adviser,” the researchers said.
The study is published in the April issue of the Journal of Consumer Research.