Negative Campaign Messages Research Articles

Polarized Populists: Dark Campaigns, Affective Polarization, and the Moderating Role of Populist Attitudes

We investigate the antecedents of affective polarization in the American public, and focus specifically on the driving role of exposure to darker forms of campaign communication (negativity, incivility, populist rhetoric) and the intervening role of individual populist attitudes. Experimental evidence was gathered among a sample of US respondents (MTurk, N = 1,081); respondents were randomly exposed to a campaign message from a fictive candidate framed either positively or negatively, and afterwards asked to express their attitudes towards Democrats and Republicans. Results show that exposure to harsher forms of campaign negativity (character attacks associated with political incivility and populist messages) drives affective polarization upwards when compared to exposure to positive messages. We also show both a direct and moderating effect of populist attitudes: populist individuals are more likely to “like” negative campaign messages (they find them more amusing and fairer) and report higher levels of affective polarization. Furthermore, exposure to negative messages is associated with greater affective polarization particularly among respondents high in populist attitudes.

Parliamentary candidates and their campaign messages at the 2019 General Election

The 2019 General Election brought about a significant change in the parliamentary balance of power. There has already been much attention devoted to how parties and their leaders campaigned in the run up to the polling day. Using original leaflet data from the OpenElections project, this study extends the focus to individual candidates by exploring the nature of local campaign communications. We find that candidates make little effort to promote their personal traits, with personalisation of leaflets remaining largely limited to offering visual cues in the shape of candidate photos. We also find that while negative campaign messages are common, they tend to relate to an opposing party more generally. Similarly, we find that highlighting the tactical situation in the constituency remains a rare practice. Our findings suggest that there is still considerable room for candidates to tailor their campaign materials to their personal attributes and the local electoral context.

How Gender Affects Negative and Positive Campaigning

ABSTRACT While studies investigating gendered ways of campaigning have primarily focused on negative campaign strategies, we explore the extent to which women and men engage in negative and positive campaigning and how they are combined. Our analyses, relying on the 2019 Finnish Parliamentary Candidates Survey, shows that even in the Finnish context, with comparatively high levels of gender equality in society and politics, distinct gender patterns in campaigning occur. Women candidates report having campaigned more positively than men candidates, while men candidates are more likely to report having campaigned negatively than women candidates. We also find that men are more inclined to incorporate a balanced mixture of positive and negative campaign messages, while women predominantly rely on positive campaigning. Based on our findings, we conclude that women and men still do not compete in politics on equal terms.

Going Micro to Go Negative?

Spreading uncivil negative campaign messages is a “high-risk, high reward” campaign strategy since certain voters are more likely to be swayed by negative messaging whereas other voters are more inclined to feel sympathy with the attacked. Due to its risks, campaigns may attempt to outsource their uncivil ads to outside groups thus distancing themselves from the negativity and potentially avoiding any backlash. But at a time when advertising platforms boast of their ability to deliver ads to highly targeted audiences, uncivil negative ads could also be optimized to narrowly target citizens to which they are more likely to appeal. To study whether such optimizations are occurring, we retrieve all online advertisements that were placed on Facebook platforms (incl. Instagram) in the seven months prior to the US 2020 election. We perform multilevel ordinal regressions and find that ads from official political campaigns are more likely to be toxic when targeted at a narrower audience, whereas “dark money” outside groups (like super PACs and non-profits) are more likely to target broad audiences with their toxicity. In addition, we find that ads from outside groups are more likely to be toxic. We discuss the findings in light of this evidence and reflect upon future research regarding microtargeting negative messages on online platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

Minority Stress, Campaign Messages and Political Participation during the Australian Marriage Plebiscite

BackgroundThe health and wellbeing of sexual minorities is adversely impacted by a set of factors collectively known as minority stress. Recently, negative campaigns preceding gay-rights referenda have put further pressure on sexual minorities. However, active participation in political campaigns is expected to foster wellbeing. This study explores the mechanisms through which political campaigns affect psychological distress in sexual minorities.MethodWe conducted a survey with 318 Australian sexual minority individuals during the campaign for the same-sex marriage postal vote in 2017.ResultsAs expected, exposure to negative campaign messages was associated with psychological distress. This association persisted controlling for the effects of everyday stress. The effect of exposure to negative campaign messages was no longer significant when controlling for minority stressors like internalized homophobia, expectations of rejection, and everyday discrimination. Political participation was also associated with psychological distress. Post hoc analyses supported a model whereby minority stressors mediated the associations of campaign messages and political participation with distress.ConclusionMinority stress provides a flexible theoretical framework that can incorporate novel challenges to the wellbeing of sexual minorities.Policy ImplicationAs public votes on the rights of sexual minorities become more common, it is important to develop models that can inform policy in protecting such minorities.

(Dis)enfranchised citizens: informational messaging and Puerto Rican political mobilization

ABSTRACT Puerto Ricans are a growing population on the U.S. mainland. They hold a distinctive position in the hierarchy of American citizenship because they are disenfranchised in national elections on the island but immediately become eligible to vote if they move to the mainland. How can Puerto Ricans on the U.S. mainland be mobilized to participate in politics? This paper explores whether campaign contact increases Puerto Rican political participation. Using observational data, we establish that campaign contact is associated with political participation among mainland Puerto Ricans. We also conduct a survey experiment, testing the mobilizing effects of positive and negative campaign messages that prime Puerto Ricans to think about their group’s distinctive political experiences. These messages convey the enfranchised status of Puerto Ricans on the U.S. mainland and their disenfranchised status on the island. While the negative treatment has limited effects, the positive treatment increases intentions to vote, to participate in non-electoral political activities, and feelings of political efficacy relative to a pure control. We observe heterogenous treatment effects across electoral contexts and levels of linked fate with other Puerto Ricans.

Love is blind. Partisanship and perception of negative campaign messages in a multiparty system

ABSTRACT We study how partisanship influences the perception of directed campaign statements of varying polarity and sentiment strength. Using a crowdsourced survey experiment with German participants, we find asymmetrical perceptual biases. Partisan respondents perceive negative campaigning from or about a party they favour, as less negative than non-partisans. The discounting effect applies particularly for voters with stronger preferences and for messages that are more strongly negative. Partisan preferences only weakly influence the perception of neutral or positive campaign statements. The discounting biases found for negative statements point at limits of negative campaigning effects in electoral contests. Different effects for weakly and strongly worded messages substantiate concerns that dichotomous approaches to negative campaigning could miss important variation in party communication and its effects.

AUDIENCE CULTURE IN THE RECEPTION OF TEXT: BLACK CAMPAIGNS ON ONLINE MEDIA DURING INDONESIA'S 2014 AND 2019 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

Purpose of the study: This study seeks to explore the influence of culture on audiences' responses to online negative campaigns during Indonesia's 2014 and 2019 presidential elections. It shows that voter behavior is not determined entirely by media messages, as voters' decisions are strongly informed by their cultural and family backgrounds.
 Methodology: Negative campaign messages conveyed through online mass-media coverage were used as the main object of this study. These messages were analyzed categorically, with a focus on their themes, values, and ideologies. Data inference was made contextually, with a specific focus on cultural context.
 Main Findings: Mass media audiences' reception of negative campaigns is not homogenous, but influenced by political ideologies, social statuses, cultures, past experiences, and family characteristics. As such, negative campaigns do not influence the perceptions of mass media audiences, but rather reinforces audiences' existing political preferences. This is because Indonesian audiences are not individual (as common among new media audiences), but rather collective. They are divided into specific groups based on their political ideologies and the socio-cultural values that they learn from their families.
 Applications of this study: The findings can be applied to evaluate the media's effectiveness in constructing public knowledge and shaping public decisions.
 Novelty/Originality of this study: Although it has long been argued that the media can shape public opinions and decisions, this study shows that it plays a significant role in reinforcing existing political preferences. Audiences use the media to justify values that, owing to their specific family backgrounds and social environments, they have already embraced.

Fighting for attention: Media coverage of negative campaign messages

The article studies whether and how negative campaigning is a successful strategy for attaining media attention. It combines extensive content analyses of party and news texts with public opinion surveys to study the success of individual press releases in making the news. The empirical analysis draws on 1496 party press releases and 6512 news reports in all national media outlets during the final 6 weeks of Austria’s 2013 general election campaign. We find that negative campaigning is a successful strategy to attract the attention of journalists and editors. It is particularly relevant for rank-and-file politicians, who lack the intrinsic news value of high public or party office, and for messages that focus on a rival’s best issues. These findings have broader implications for understanding party strategies and ‘negativity bias’ in the news.

Daily exposure to negative campaign messages decreases same-sex couples’ psychological and relational well-being

Throughout history, the rights of stigmatized minority group members have been subject to popular debate and voter referenda. The impact of the resulting devaluing social discourse on the well-being of minority group members remains unknown. For example, exposure to the discourse leading up to decisions on same-sex marriage may have negative consequences for sexual minority individuals and same-sex couples. We examined the impact of exposure to same-sex marriage campaign messages (e.g., commercials, billboards, yard signs) on the psychological and relational well-being of couples living in the four states that had same-sex marriage voter initiatives in the 2012 general election. Sixty-two same-sex couples ( N = 124) completed a baseline survey and 10 daily diary reports during the month before the election. Daily exposure to negative campaign messages was associated with increased negative affect and decreased positive affect and relationship satisfaction. These associations persisted controlling for baseline levels of depression and daily fluctuations in general stress among both members of the couple. Exposure to a devaluing social discourse regarding the rights of same-sex couples represents a unique form of social stress resulting in negative consequences for the psychological and relational well-being of same-sex couples. Thus, the health of same-sex couples may be of particular concern in contexts where marriage policy decisions are pending and the subject of popular debate.

Negative and Personalized Campaign Rhetoric: Party Communication and Media Coverage of Danish Parliamentary Elections 1994–2011

AbstractThe Danish 2011 national election campaign was allegedly characterized by the toughest political rhetoric ever in contemporary Danish politics. The political parties and the candidates apparently decided to “go negative” to a greater extent than usually. But was the 2011 campaign rhetoric actually the most negative in modern history? We seek the answer by means of quantitative content analysis of parties’ newspaper ads, party leaders’ letters to the editor and statements in party leader debates. We first compare the 2011 campaign with the five preceding campaigns and conclude that it was indeed the least negative of them all. We then compare the parties’ communication and the media coverage of the campaign to discover that the media strongly – and increasingly – emphasize the parties’ negative campaign messages relative to the positive messages. In sum: Danish parties were not especially prone to engage in negative campaigning in the 2011 election, but the media made the parties look more negative than in earlier campaigns.

No Drama

We qualitatively examined gay men's reactions to the national "Drama Downunder" HIV/STI social marketing campaign targeting gay men in Australia to identify key campaign elements that underpinned the demonstrated effectiveness of the campaign. We present findings from six qualitative focus groups held with 49 participants as part of the evaluation of the sexual-health-promotion campaign over 2008-2009. Participants identified attention-grabbing images, a humorous approach, positive and simple tailored messaging, and the use of mainstream media as campaign features crucial in normalizing sexual health testing, driving campaign engagement, and ensuring high message exposure. Our results suggest that designers of future campaigns should strive to balance positive and negative campaign images and messages, and find new ways to engage men with sexual health topics, particularly younger gay men. We discuss the implications of our findings about campaign effectiveness for future health-promotion campaigns and message design.

Variability in Citizens’ Reactions to Different Types of Negative Campaigns

Do negative advertisements lower voters’ evaluations of the targeted candidate? We theorize that there is much to be gained by examining the variance in the content and tone of negative campaign messages and the variance in voters’ sensitivity to negative political rhetoric. We employ data from the 2006 Cooperative Congressional Election Study to investigate the impact of negative campaigning in U.S. Senate campaigns. We sampled 1,045 respondents in 21 of the 28 U.S. Senate races featuring a majority party incumbent and challenger. In addition to the survey data, we collected contextual data regarding the political advertisements aired during the campaigns and the news coverage of these campaigns in state newspapers. The evidence suggests that the impact of negative information is multifaceted, and under some circumstances, substantial. We find that uncivil and relevant negative messages are the most powerful, especially for people with less tolerance for negative political rhetoric.

A Negativity Gap? Voter Gender, Attack Politics, and Participation in American Elections

The effect of negative campaigning on voter turnout has been a major focus of research in recent years. The general finding from this large literature is that negative campaigning does not depress voter turnout overall; however, it may still be that certain portions of the electorate are differentially mobilized or demobilized by negativity. In particular, scholars have neglected to examine whether men and women react differently to campaign attacks. This article begins by showing that evidence drawn from a variety of relevant fields outside of political science point toward the general expectation that men will be mobilized by negativity to a greater degree than women. Associated hypotheses are then tested using data from both real campaigns and experiments. In each analysis, the evidence supports the hypothesis that a “negativity gap” exists. Specifically, men are disproportionately mobilized by the most negative campaign messages as compared to women. Partisanship is also found to interact significantly with gender and message tone to affect the likelihood of voting. These results highlight the importance of studying subgroup differences when establishing the effects of campaign tone on the public.

Negative Campaigning in a Multiparty System

Research in political campaigning in Scandinavian countries is inadequate, and research in negative campaigning is entirely non‐existent. A ‘negative campaign message’ is defined as an explicit critique of the political opponent. Applying this definition to the 2005 Danish election indicates that negative campaigning comprises a very limited aspect of the political campaigning in the course of this election. The opposition tends to employ negative tactics the most in their attempts to establish their political platform. The media provided extensive coverage to the few negative campaign messages, thus presenting a biased sense of the political campaign to the general public. This biased media coverage encourages parties to ‘go negative’ in their respective campaigns in the battle for media attention.

Do Negative Messages Work?

We examine the effectiveness of negative campaigning. Specifically, we focus on the question, Do negative campaign messages alter citizens’ evaluations of competing candidates? We rely on a research design that replicates the campaign environment for nearly 100 Senate elections involving thousands of voters. Furthermore, we utilize a theoretical framework that sheds light on how negative information influences people’s social judgments. In general, the results suggest that negative messages delivered in a legitimate fashion and focusing on a relevant topic depress evaluations of opponents. In contrast, negative messages containing irrelevant information delivered in an overly strident manner depress evaluations of both candidates involved in the campaign. In addition, the findings indicate that the impact of negative messages varies depending on (a) the status of the candidate delivering the message, (b) the characteristics of the citizens receiving the message, and (c) the style of the candidates’criticisms (e.g., policy vs. personal attacks).

Communicating Negative Campaign Messages: The Role of Consultants' Individual Characteristics

This paper analyzes differences among political consultants, such as party, gender, age and experience, in order to discover if these characteristics help explain variations among consultants in their evaluation and use of negative campaigning. Multiple regression did not yield significant findings, but a discriminant analysis found that age, experience, and attitude toward the potential backlash of using negative tactics lead to significant differences in the types of media chosen to communicate negative messages.

Attack Politics in Presidential Nomination Campaigns: An Examination of the Frequency and Determinants of Intermediated Negative Messages Against Opponents

This article explores the negative campaign messages made by presi dential nomination candidates on their opponents. Using a compilation of national and state media accounts of candidate attack activity from the 1992 Democratic nomination race, we seek to answer the questions -- are the intermediated attacks made by presidential nomination candidates random events or are they predictable consequences of measurable vari ables ? Moreover, when candidates attack, who is their likely target? We find that intermediated candidate attacks can be predicted based on a number of conditions. Among these conditions are competitive position ing, reward factors and media-related conditions. Moreover, the general foci of attacks appear to be limited to attacking those who are competi tively in the top tier. Attacks vary both in their frequency and in their nature depending on the competitive stage of the campaign. The system atic evaluation of these opponent-focused negative messages and their role in candidate strategy and voter evaluation is important for under standing presidential nomination politics and strategic communication in elections in general.