Effects of Repeatedly Presented Attacking Campaign Posters: The Influence of Negative Campaigning and the Truth Effect on Political Issue Evaluation, the Trustworthiness of Statements and the Feeling of Reactance

• In Event: Political Campaigning and Campaign Effects

Abstract

Political campaigns around the globe tend to become more negative by directly attacking the opponent. Although the effect of negative campaigning has been thoroughly investigated in the US, only a few studies exist in European political communications research. One new area of research is the potential influence of the truth effect on the success of a negative strategy. If a repeated statement is always more credible, politicians should be able to use this effect to their benefit. Using an online experiment to depict attacking or neutral campaign posters in three different frequencies, this study examined whether repeatedly shown negative posters influence the evaluation of a political issue, the trustworthiness of a statement or the feeling of reactance. The study found that frequently presented attacking campaign posters resulted in a more negative opinion of a political issue. In addition, after being presented with attacking posters, participants rated the poster’s statement as less credible and displayed higher feelings of reactance.

Authors

• Nicole Ernst, University of Zurich

• Werner Wirth, U of Zurich

• Rinaldo Kuehne, U of Amsterdam