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Abstract
Negative campaign advertisements have been depicted by many observers as a scourge on
American politics. One facet of the case against negative ads–that such commercials discourage
voter turnout–has been studied extensively in the past decade. In contrast, a second
criticism–that negative advertisements produce corrosive effects on mass attitudes–has received
only minimal empirical scrutiny. This relative dearth of inquiry is unfortunate, as it would be
highly consequential for American political behavior if exposure to negative campaign ads
breeds widespread cynicism and antipathy toward politics, disapproval of political institutions
and elected officials, and a decline in political efficacy. We examine these charges in the context
of the 2002 midterm elections. By merging data on political ads from the 2002 rendition of the
Wisconsin Advertising Project with individual-level data we collected via a national survey, we
are able to devise a thorough and multi-faceted test of the case against negative advertising.