Do Negative Ads Work?

The mid-term election season is upon us and the times are quite exciting. There are tones of negative ads on TV that describe the opponent of the person or organization running the ad, as someone who has sold his/her constituents, is not fit for the job, is too liberal, is pro-tax, is pro-abortion and ready to kill babies, supported Obama, etc.

I think for some time the negative ads are useful. They provide information to the electorate and help them see how people have acted in the past. A lot of the times, these ads are actually very misleading and false. An intelligent person can see through the B.S. but the general electorate is not usually the brightest light bulb out there so they can be bamboozled.

There probably is a tipping point when the negative ads whip up support for the opponent by the base. I think we are seeing this with the Democrats now. True to their modus operandi of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, the Democrats have been demoralized lately. Major losses to the right-wingers like the spectacular collapse of grass roots movement ACORN has not helped. All the hopelessness and the resignation that they are going to see major losses because the GOP said so has started generating support from the base.

Let's see how things work out in a month.