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A nation’s citizens must walk a fine line when assessing elected officials and political
institutions. On the one hand, a degree of skepticism seems prudent. Were citizens to view the
political arena with something approaching blind faith, the risk of elite malfeasance would be
considerable. Hence, the mass public is wise, and arguably duty-bound, to monitor government
operations with a critical eye. But while skepticism may be advisable, mass cynicism can be
debilitating. If citizens conclude that government is damaged beyond repair, then little or no
incentive exists for individuals to invest time and effort in weighing the pros and cons of new
policy proposals or in selecting between competing candidates. In this scenario, meaningful
representation would become impossible to secure.
During the past four decades, Americans as a whole most often have leaned much closer
to cynicism in their political assessments than to blind faith. Indeed, brief periods of high trust
and confidence in government, such as in the months following the September 11, 2001 terrorist
attacks, are notable precisely because they are at odds with the familiar pattern. Numerous
factors plausibly contribute to Americans’ characteristically dark views of government. Event-
driven explanations ring true when we recall that the period in question encompasses an
impressive array of political scandals and failed policies. Likewise, media-driven explanations
also enjoy intuitive merit given that signs of mass cynicism emerged soon after the rise of
television news, and further waves of political pessimism have coincided with the growth of talk
radio and 24-hour cable news outlets.
Our objective in this study is not to revisit the many forces potentially operating to
induce citizens’ highly critical political appraisals, but rather to examine one particular force in
depth. The central question we pursue is whether exposure to negative campaign advertisements
sours citizens’ broader political perceptions. This focus on campaign ads ties in well with both
event- and media-based models in that political campaigns are important recurring events and
Convention