Negative Campaigning in the Social Media Age: Attack Advertising on Facebook

Recent studies examine politicians’ decisions to use social media, as well as the content of the messages that these political actors disseminate on social media platforms. We contribute to this literature by examining how race competitiveness and a candidate’s position in the race relative to her o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Political behavior 2016-12, Vol.38 (4), p.999-1020
Main Authors: Auter, Zachary J., Fine, Jeffrey A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Advertising
Competition
Content analysis
Mass media
Media
Negative campaigning
ORIGINAL PAPER
Political campaigns
Political Science
Political Science and International Relations
Political Science and International Studies
Politicians
Race
Social networks
Sociology
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Summary:Recent studies examine politicians’ decisions to use social media, as well as the content of the messages that these political actors disseminate on social media platforms. We contribute to this literature by examining how race competitiveness and a candidate’s position in the race relative to her opponent affect their decisions to issue attacks. Through content analysis of nearly 15,000 Facebook posts for tone (positive or negative), we find that while competitive races encourage both candidates to issue more negative posts, candidates in less competitive races embrace attack messages with more or less frequency depending on whether they trail or lead their opponent. We find that social media negativity is much more likely to be a desperation strategy employed by underdog candidates in less competitive races. We also run separate models examining the factors that drive policy and personal attacks. While underdog candidates are more likely to engage in issue attacks, candidates in competitive races are significantly more likely to use Facebook to make personal attacks.
ISSN:0190-9320
1573-6687
DOI:10.1007/s11109-016-9346-8