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The Civic Consequences of “Going Negativeâ€

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  • Ming Wang
  • Itay Gabay
  • Dhavan V. Shah

Abstract

This study explores whether negative political advertising has any impact on adolescents. Two datasets are merged for this inquiry: (1) content-coded ad-buy data on the placement of campaign messages on a market-by-market and program-by-program basis and (2) national survey data of parent-child dyads collected immediately after the 2008 presidential election. The authors’ analysis finds that the negativity of political advertising to which adolescents were exposed predicted human-interest candidate knowledge, but not policy-relevant candidate knowledge. In addition, the negativity of political advertising exposure suppressed political consumerism among adolescents, but had no effect on their levels of political participation. This study shows that political campaigns can affect adolescents’ knowledge and participation in unconventional and potentially deleterious ways.

Suggested Citation

  • Ming Wang & Itay Gabay & Dhavan V. Shah, 2012. "The Civic Consequences of “Going Negativeâ€," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 644(1), pages 256-271, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:644:y:2012:i:1:p:256-271
    DOI: 10.1177/0002716212454652
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ansolabehere, Stephen D. & Iyengar, Shanto & Simon, Adam, 1999. "Replicating Experiments Using Aggregate and Survey Data: The Case of Negative Advertising and Turnout," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 93(4), pages 901-909, December.
    2. Dhavan V. Shah & Douglas M. McLeod & Eunkyung Kim & Sun Young Lee & Melissa R. Gotlieb & Shirley S. Ho & Hilde Breivik, 2007. "Political Consumerism: How Communication and Consumption Orientations Drive “Lifestyle Politicsâ€," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 611(1), pages 217-235, May.
    3. Sears, David O. & Valentino, Nicholas A., 1997. "Politics Matters: Political Events as Catalysts for Preadult Socialization," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 91(1), pages 45-65, March.
    4. Paul Freedman & Michael Franz & Kenneth Goldstein, 2004. "Campaign Advertising and Democratic Citizenship," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 48(4), pages 723-741, October.
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