Do Political Campaign Ads Work?
You may be surprised to find out just how much money Alabama politicians are spending on political ads.
If you’ve been near a television in the past few months, chances are you’ve seen a political ad. Alabama politicians are spending big money to get your vote on November 4th. According to the Center for Public Integrity, seven million dollars has been spent on television campaign ads that have run more than 21 thousand times since early September.
“More people vote against someone than vote for them and that’s particularly true in Alabama,” says Political Analyst Steve Flowers.
Flowers says he believes the ads work. He says if they didn’t, politicians wouldn’t spend money on them. One of the most heated races this year is the race for Attorney General between Joe Hubbard and Luther Strange. According to this study, Hubbard has spent around 24 thousand dollars promoting his platform while targeting Strange. While Strange has spent about 300 thousand dollars to support himself.
“It works,” Flowers says. “I hate to say that but negative advertising works. You can see a direct correlation between someone hitting someone with a negative ad and it causes their numbers to go down.”
But with politicians making such a big investment in TV ads, do people think they actually work? Responses were mixed.
“They do everything they can,” says Montgomery resident Elbert Whiting. “They want your vote and when they get your vote, well, they said they were going to do this and they said they were going to do that but when it boils down to it, they’re not going to do any of it.”
“You’ll tell me oh, I’m going to do this, I’m going to do this, I’m going to make sure it’s better for the next person. It never happens,” says Steve Johnson.
A lot of people did not want to go on camera for this story but a lot of people agree, these ads DO help sway voters.
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