Abstract
This major research paper is a qualitative study of American “Super PAC” advertising during the 2012 American presidential election. Super PACs, a type of “political action committee,” have the ability to collect unlimited funds to advertise on behalf of candidates and parties. Super PACs have attracted criticism from scholars due to the Super PACs’ negativity against opposing candidates. Using Albert Bandura‘s Social Cognitive Theory of Mass Communication, and existing literature on political advertising, this study explores public opinion on negative television commercials. It employs data collected by The Super PAC App – a mobile application that recorded individual reactions to political advertising. It also employs qualitative content analysis on 20 negative Super PAC advertisements using codes created by political scientist John Geer. The results suggest that users of the App generally disliked negative Super PAC advertisements. Furthermore, the results indicate there are certain characteristics within negative advertisements that make them more liked or disliked by users of the App.
Highlights
In 2010, the Supreme Court of the United States rendered judgment on two cases that changed how political advertising is conducted
The methodology I applied to my subsample highlighted a number of trends among negative Super political action committees (PACs) advertisements
I will begin by answering the first research question, and explain a framework I used to understand the Super PAC voting results
Summary
In 2010, the Supreme Court of the United States rendered judgment on two cases that changed how political advertising is conducted. FEC, the Supreme Court ruled that contributing money to political causes is protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution (Gaughan 2012).. The act of donating to political activities is interpreted as the expression of an individual’s opinion Following this landmark decision, some political action committees (PACs) were authorized to collect unlimited donations to advertise on behalf of candidates.. Some political action committees (PACs) were authorized to collect unlimited donations to advertise on behalf of candidates.2 These organizations morphed into an “advertising auxiliary” for official campaigns, and were later dubbed “Super PACs” (Farrar-Meyers & Skinny 2012) Some political action committees (PACs) were authorized to collect unlimited donations to advertise on behalf of candidates. These organizations morphed into an “advertising auxiliary” for official campaigns, and were later dubbed “Super PACs” (Farrar-Meyers & Skinny 2012)
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