May 04, 2012 12:52 AM UTC

Election Nastiness Not Just In Your Head

• 4 Comments
• by: droll

(It’s a relief to learn this, isn’t it? – promoted by Colorado Pols)

Relieved? You most probably shouldn’t be. Turns out far more ads are negative than this time in ’08 and a mind boggling amount, in general and specifically, are coming from PACs, especially the no-need-to-disclose-donor types.

Before the numbers, it’s important to point out that most reelection cycles are negative because the sitting President is trying to discredit their opponent. That said, it’s still an incredible shift.

The numbers:

70% of all ads have been negative, compared to less than 10% in ’08.

Interest group participation is up 1100% since ’08, 86% of their ads are negative, up from 25%.

More than half of candidate ads have been negative, compared to just under 10% in ’08.

96% of the ads at this point in ’08 were from candidates while 36% are this year. 60% of the remainder are from interest groups this year, while 4% are from political parties.

Enjoy your swinging state!

Read more from here: http://politicalticker.blogs.c… Study thanks to our good friends at the Wesleyan Media Project