Do Political TV Ads sway your vote?

[chri'stina 190]

[ace13 0]

I think those ads are annoying. I would rather see the ads focus only on voting record and not in such a dramatic way.

One thing that should be required is at the end it should say who is paying for the ad.

What I see in these ads is they will say So-in-so Rep or Democrat voted this way and they are evil and against the people, but I the so-and so running against them is for the people-but at no time do they say how they would vote or what their stance is.

[chri'stina 190]

I agree Ace...I do not trust political ads at all.

[Alhamdulillah 0]

When I see those negative ads it makes me want to vote against the one running it.

The other morning I was watching the news and at least 20 ads came on, only one was not a negative ad. It's really very sad.

Why does no one care about the real issues? Is it really just about who's the lesser of the two evils?

[mybackpages 0]

I think those ads are annoying. I would rather see the ads focus only on voting record and not in such a dramatic way.

One thing that should be required is at the end it should say who is paying for the ad.

What I see in these ads is they will say So-in-so Rep or Democrat voted this way and they are evil and against the people, but I the so-and so running against them is for the people-but at no time do they say how they would vote or what their stance is.

It is a requirement to post who paid for the ad, but it is usally so small and quick or has such a innoculous name that most people do not catch it.

What I find interesting thought is that study show while the majority really dislikes negative ads, the negative ads do work and that's why we keep seeing them.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Yes, in a manner of speaking. They claim things that pique my interest and I then google the claims up to see if the claims are true.

[chri'stina 190]

Yes, in a manner of speaking. They claim things that pique my interest and I then google the claims up to see if the claims are true.

Good point.

[LaL 418]

sometimes, and actually if one is being more slanderous than another it will put me off that candidate as well as give me something to google.

(our election down here has been pretty one-sided as far as political ads go, and not in an informative way.)

[rclouse 0]

I do my best to not pay any attention to them. When I get my sample ballot and Information Guide, I go over all the candidates and read what they've put in their ads there (they typically say what they stand for and what they plan to do, they don't attack the other guy). If there's no information on the ballot I'll find their website and vote based on that. For example, I was considering a Republican for one office cause I didn't particularly like the Democrat. But on her website she had a prominent statement attacking Democrats, so you can guess how I voted.

I go over the myriad propositions, see who supports & who opposes and decide based on that info. I usually vote against all bond measures cause it's like breaking out the credit cards: is it really worth it to build libraries with the state's American Express? (almost always: no).

After all that, I can feel OK about the ads, cause I've already decided based on my own reasearch and not their attacks or sound bites.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

I do my best to not pay any attention to them. When I get my sample ballot and Information Guide, I go over all the candidates and read what they've put in their ads there (they typically say what they stand for and what they plan to do, they don't attack the other guy). If there's no information on the ballot I'll find their website and vote based on that. For example, I was considering a Republican for one office cause I didn't particularly like the Democrat. But on her website she had a prominent statement attacking Democrats, so you can guess how I voted.

I go over the myriad propositions, see who supports & who opposes and decide based on that info. I usually vote against all bond measures cause it's like breaking out the credit cards: is it really worth it to build libraries with the state's American Express? (almost always: no).

After all that, I can feel OK about the ads, cause I've already decided based on my own reasearch and not their attacks or sound bites.

Sounds great. I pay attention to the ads though, because besides what the candidates say they stand for, I'm also interested in the dirt their opponents uncover about them. Menendez wasn't going to tell me about the scandals he was involved in, the Kean campaign had to do that for me. Kean wasn't going to tell me he supports the Iraq war, I needed the Menendez campaign to tell me that too. Both facts factored into my decision and both facts came to my attention through TV attack ads.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

don't have a tv at home.

Radio ads also have limited effect (though circulated videos such as the one recording ketchup kerry's speech last week can--basically by ticking me off, so at least my "regular" method of voting in anger received a fillip).

[Elphie 0]

Yes, in a manner of speaking. They claim things that pique my interest and I then google the claims up to see if the claims are true.

I do the same thing as Gupt.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

In former times (prior to 1994), they did.

I can actually remember a 1988 ad for Canadian election which featured a piece about the (then-proposed) Free Trade Agreement. Exerpts from it below

...

Canadian Negotiator: Well, how do you like the agreement?

American Negotiator: I like it except for one line.

Canadian: which line?

American: this one (goes to whiteboard displaying map of lower-48 and mainland Canada and proceeds to erase border)

...

Results of that:

• Canada and US are still separate nations
  
• NDP, which promoted that ad, failed to change seating significantly (it did significantly change in 1993 due to many NDP MPs' support for Meech Lake--DOWNWARD)
  
• NDP basically proved that it could not formulate any new ideology after retirement (in 1979) of Tommy Douglas (who died in 1986, two years prior to this ad)
  
• proposed Free Trade Pact passed and extended to NAFTA (nevermind whether it achieved the aim of actual free trade)
  

[ya falaha! 0]

I get so annoyed with political ads that I tune them out after awhile. The more a candidate throws mud the more I dislike them.

[Fandango 1,440]

Yes, in a manner of speaking. They claim things that pique my interest and I then google the claims up to see if the claims are true.

Same here.

Like I was very suprised when Charlie Crist claimed that he was backed by a Democrat newspaper, so I came online to check.

Mind you, I was voting for him anyways