Summary: Effects Of Advertising On Voter Turnout

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Effects of Advertising on Voter Turnout
Brian A. Goodrich
Three Rivers College

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Effects of Advertising on Voter turnout
The idea of a negative advertisement towards a political opponent became commonplace in the election of 2000, but most notably and recent, the 2012 election. Final tallies find more than 3 million ads of all kinds during this election with a price tag of over 2 billion dollars. A 2013 research paper published in The Forum by Erika Franklin Fowler of Wesleyan and Travis Ridout of Washington State concluded the following: “Record amounts of money went to purchase television advertising during the 2012 election cycle, resulting in unprecedented volumes of advertising. This increase
In the most recent election in 2012 however, 65% of political advertising were negative or malicious in some way. A 2008 study published in The Journal of Politics, Sides, John; Karch, Andrew. The Journal of Politics, April 2008, Vol. 70, Issue 2, 466-476. “Messages that Mobilize? Issue Publics and the Content of Campaign Advertising,” looks at the effect of issue-specific television ads on the turnout of targeted groups. The authors, based at the George Washington University and the University of Texas at Austin, combined data from the Current Population Survey over the 1998, 2000 and 2002 election cycles with data on the media markets in which the ads aired. These studies showed that targeted campaign ads appear to have only a small measurable effect on groups: “In three election years, we found no consistent evidence that messages related to Social Security and Medicare were associated with higher turnout among seniors or
Showing that countries like the UK whose voter turnout has fluctuated slightly throughout elections, and decreased since the blanket ban on technological forms of advertising, and the United States whose voter ratio can flux up to 20% from election to election with no restriction on advertising, and Nigeria at 50% with sparse political advertising, but what is interesting that with a generally very high ratio the Bahamas remained consistent despite outrage from broadcasters and radio stations, which are just in it solely for the money. This goes to show more advertising and its content being negative or positive does not directly impact voter turnout. Political advertising, which has always been around in one way or another is just another money making venture in a world consumed with money and technology. The real reason behind the voter ratio in my personal opinion is the voters themselves, the silent majority, you. The only thing that truly sways the polls is the voters; in America it mostly depends on people finding the right platform to suit their current situation, and if they don’t find it in the two most common parties they simply don’t vote. I think it relies on the importance of voting to the community, people making choices in the government and not just giving up when they don’t like something about the candidate or find one thing they don’t like that the party supports. Once the people of any country realize it is their duty to