A diagnostic approach to assessing the impact of negative political television commercials

Abstract

Based on a multiple‐criteria response model, this experiment examines the impact of negative political commercials on evaluations of the source, the opponent, the ad itself, and voting intention. Results generally support the use of negative message strategies in political campaigns and their advocacy by political consultants. For both positive and negative political commercials, inferences about the sponsor and attitude toward the ad act as important mediators of message cognitions. However, only for negative ads do inferences about the opponent play a significant mediating role.