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Five Myths about Campaign Advertising

- July 20, 2012

1. Negative ads are more effective than positive ones.
2. Campaign ads are uninformative.
3. Less-informed voters are more easily swayed by ads.
4. A candidate should respond to an attack ad with a counterattack on the same issue.
5. News organizations neutralize misleading ads by fact-checking them.

These are from an article by University of Michigan political scientist Ted Brader in the Washington Post as part of their “five myths” series. In the article, Brader expands on each of these point and include links to a wide-variety of political science research. This is a great resource both for journalists wishing to write about advertisements in the coming campaign who want a quick link to relevant political science research, as well as for any of you who may be lecturing about campaign advertising in the near future.

The full article is available here and will also be in the Outlook section of the Sunday Washington Post.