How Negativity Can Increase and Decrease Voter Turnout: The Effect of Timing

Negative ads dominate campaign communication, but scholars continue to disagree over the effects of negativity on voter turnout. While some studies show that negativity leads to a lower likelihood of turnout, others find precisely the opposite. In this article, I leverage the role of timing to unify...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Political communication 2014-07, Vol.31 (3), p.446-466
Main Author: Krupnikov, Yanna
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Advertising
Conflict theory
Elections
Intellectuals
Negative campaigning
Political advertising
Political Campaigns
Political communication
Probability theory
Voter behavior
Voter Turnout
Voting turnout
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Summary:Negative ads dominate campaign communication, but scholars continue to disagree over the effects of negativity on voter turnout. While some studies show that negativity leads to a lower likelihood of turnout, others find precisely the opposite. In this article, I leverage the role of timing to unify findings that were heretofore perceived as largely conflicting. I use the same data to show that at a certain time exposure to negativity can be mobilizing, but at other points in time exposure can be demobilizing. A combination of observational data and experimental results highlight these crucial conditions.
ISSN:1058-4609
1091-7675
DOI:10.1080/10584609.2013.828141