NEGATIVE ADVERTISEMENTS IN US SENATE CAMPAIGNS - THE INFLUENCE OF CAMPAIGN CONTEXT

Objective. Negative TV advertisements are a staple of political campai gn discourse. This research explores the possibility that the mix of p ositive and negative ads in U.S. Senate campaigns may vary based on ce rtain campaign contextual factors including candidate type, competitio n, and state population. Methods. Four hundred twenty ads produced bet ween 1984 and 1994 were randomly sampled from the University of Oklaho ma Political Communications Archive and C-SPAN. These ads were content analyzed on several dimensions including positive or negative focus. Results. Both bivariate and multivariate analyses indicated that ads w ere more likely to be negative if they were produced by challengers, i n races in larger states, and by candidates in more competitive races. Conclusions. This research demonstrates that campaign context is a si gnificant influence on the mix of positive and negative ads in U.S. Se nate campaigns.