The Effects of Political Advertising on Young Voters

Abstract

Political advertising effects on candidate evaluations, issue recall, political cynicism, and gender differences are explored in this pretest—posttest examination of 764 young adult participants. Results show no major gender differences in evaluation of candidates. Participants reported learning more about Bush's image and more about Kerry's issues through the ads. Exposure to ads did not produce increased cynicism among the participants but significantly increased political information efficacy.