Political advertising has little influence on voters
Political advertising has little influence on voters. Neither people's political attitudes nor the presentation of the advertisements have a particularly strong effect on their vote, as a study by Yale University shows.
"There is a perception that good advertising that goes to the right target group in exactly the right context has an effect on the election. However, we found little convincing effect across the board for various criteria. Positive ads don't work any better than attack ads. Republicans, Democrats and Independents respond to ads in the same way," explains Alexander Coppock, co-author of the study.
In order to determine the effect of political advertising, the researchers consulted around 34,000 US voters in 2016. They collected data on their reactions to 49 different election campaign advertisements and compared them with those to ordinary advertisements. They paid attention to various criteria such as the tone of the ads.
Focus on target groups important
On a scale of five points, respondents had to rate how much they liked a presidential candidate. Advertising only shifted this rating by an average of 0.05 points. Because the effects are almost identical from person to person, election campaigns should focus on specific target groups, according to the researchers. According to Coppock, although advertising can do little to change voters' attitudes, it can make a candidate known to a larger audience. (pte)
Here go to the study "Political ads have little persuasive power".
