General Campaign - TV Spots - Influence - PresidentialCampaign2004 -The Messages and Their Analysis - William Benoit

General Campaign

Television Spots

Do TV Spots Influence Voters?

Political television spots can influence voters. Research has shown that TV commercials can inform voters. It may be surprising that some research demonstrates that TV ads can provide voters with more issue-related information than the news. This probably occurs for two reasons. First, more minutes of TV spots appear on television than minutes of news. Two studies of earlier campaigns found that four times as many minutes of ads than campaign news were aired, and it is a safe bet that the situation is more heavily skewed towards ads in recent years. Second, the news is notorious for its emphasis on "horse-race" coverage: who is ahead in the polls, who is campaigning in which states, who has raised the most money or has the most endorsements. In contrast, research shows that TV spots focus more on policy issues than on character or image.

Research also shows that TV spots are capable of changing attitudes and influencing vote choice. Of course, this does not mean an ad for one candidate can convert die-hard supports of another candidate. It seems likely that Independent and undecided voters are most susceptible to advertising. This is important, because the percentage of voters who affiliate with the Republican and Democratic parties is decreasing over time. In 2000, more voters reported that they were Independent than Republican or Democrat.

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