Negative Campaigning
Why campaigns go negative, when attack strategies work, and the long-running debate about whether negative ads are good or bad for democracy.
Why Campaigns Go Negative
Campaigns go negative for a simple reason: it works. Research consistently shows that negative advertising is more memorable than positive advertising. Voters recall attack ads more easily, process them more deeply, and give them more weight in their voting decisions. The asymmetry is psychological: humans are hardwired to pay more attention to threats than to promises.
Negative campaigning also serves a strategic function: it raises the opponent's negatives, which is mathematically equivalent to raising your own positives in a two-candidate race. If 60% of voters view you favorably and 50% view your opponent favorably, that is a 10-point gap. If an attack ad drops your opponent to 40% favorable, the gap doubles to 20 points, even though your own numbers have not changed.
