Are Negative Attacks still working?
Being a week away from the most influential Election Day in history, political anaylsts wonder which presidential candidate will win over the undecided states. However, anaylsts are now thinking that all the attacks on Senator Barack Obama by Senator John McCain will hurt McCain in the polls and it has, thus by havign recent polls continuously showing Obama int he lead. On a CNN poll of polls taken Monday shows Obama leading 51 percent to 43 percent with McCain and 6 percent undecided. Author of the book "Independent Nation," John Avalon says "McCain should go big at the end. But if he wants to win over independents and undecideds, he should not go big by going negative. That's the worst thing he could do." However, Patricia Murphy thinks that it is a good idea for the McCain camp to raise doubts about Obama on the home stretch to Election Day.
In past political history, negative advertisements have seemed to swade audiences. They have worked in governor elections all the way to the nation presidential campaigns. However, with Obama constantly being picked on by McCain and will polls showing what people think about it-- are negative advertisements and attacks on their way out?
posted by Sammy | 9:20 PM
4 Comments:
I don't think negative ads will ever be out all together because they unfortunately effective on some level or they would not be used in the first place. I think many Americans are lazy and are taking these negative ads to heart instead of researching the issues themselves. I do, however, think it would be wise of McCain to stear clear of negative ads for the remainder of the campaign and instead focus on reminding Americans on why they should vote on him and giving his own name recognition. I think people have already decided who they will vote for so now it is more of an issue of actually voting and remembering their favorite candidates.
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I think consider the strategic functions of negative ads makes McCain's use of attack all the more logical. over the past week the attacks have started to fly, for example, I received two phone calls on the same day in which a monotonous voice rambled off all the bad policies Obama supports and the evils he has committed. All the while fox news was harping on Obama's relationship with Khalidi, cutting everyone and then to Palin who was spouting claims that Obama was anti-Israel and so on. But as one pundit put it, "These attacks are a sign of desperation." With only a few days left and McCain clearly trailing in the polls, attacks are the only thing McCain has left. It is unlikely he will move up so he has to bring Obama down (plus he has nothing to lose) if McCain can decrease Obama's appeal and even put him on the defensive (so he has to spend money on something besides 3 million dollar infomercials) he could narrow the gap. Of course the risk is that he turns off some of his own voters, but in my opinion, it does not outweigh the cost of not using negative ads at this point.
I do not believe that attack ads are on their way out and they, although sometimes only a version of the truth, allow American's to see both the positive and negatives of the political candidates as they are a form of political campaigning that have been used for years. Even though, Senator McCain has created numerous negative advertisements, so has Senator Obama. I think that he offers a better variety, but there seems to be just as many inaccurate statements about in his ads about Senator McCain as in Senator McCain's, but his arguments are just presented in a different fashion.Though I would like to see Senator McCain vary his ads, I think what is hurting Senator McCain in this election does not stem from his attacks on Senator Obama, but rather vice versa. His campaign slogan, "We just can't afford more of the same" has been the biggest hit to the McCain/Palin campaign as we are facing an economic crisis and this slogan is meant to compare him to President George W. Bush, who he is actually trying to disassociate himself from. A lot of Americans believe he is the reason that America is in a recession and do want to elect a candidate that is going to continue this hardship on American. Senator McCain, of course, wants to offer a way out rather then the continuation of it. However, Senator Obama is trying to make people think otherwise and his ads seem to do just that.
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