In Defense of Negativity: Attack Ads in Presidential Campaigns

By R. Lau. Perspectives on Politics, 2006

316 citations recorded by the source corpus.

How researchers see this paper

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Negativity in political news: A review of concepts, operationalizations and key findings (2012, background): “Criticism, counterargument and rebuttal increase the information available in decision-making situations and are legitimate and essential ingredients of political debate (Geer, 2006; Westen, 2007).”
Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire: How Fact-Checking Influences Citizens’ Reactions to Negative Advertising (2015, background): “In fact, negative ads, compared to positive or contrast ads, deliver the most information about the competing candidates in terms of voting records, issue positions, and background information (Geer, 2006).”
Election Night’s Alright for Fighting: The Role of Emotions in Political Participation (2011, background): “Normatively, these results suggest yet another reason to question the loud condemnations of ‘‘negativity’’ and emotionality in politics (Geer 2006).”
The Strengthening of Partisan Affect (2018, background): “The dominance of negative advertising in political campaigns (Geer, 2008, 2010), and the proclivity of incumbent congresspersons to “taunt” the out-party in their press releases (Grimmer & King, 2011) provide stark testimony to the affective responsiveness of leaders to their electoral base.”