The Lyndon B. Johnson Campaign

Political advertisements have played a key position of importance when selecting our political figures. Prospective politicians use all sources of media to present their official stance and opinions on issues concerning their constituents. Many politicians try to use positive messages to sway potential voters into siding with them. However, others will utilize a series of attack advertisements to push voters away from an opposing candidate. Negative campaign attacks are a necessary evil on our political battlefield. Some politicians refer to these “smear” campaigns as a distraction from the actual topics of importance. In this paper, I will examine the use of negative ads and answer the question; Are negative ads effective during a political

President Lyndon B. Johnson, seeking re-election, pounced on the opportunity to paint Goldwater as a warmonger. The Johnson campaign created what would later be dubbed “Daisy” (Begala). In the video, a young girl is shown pulling petals from a flower. As the girl pulls the last petal, the camera zooms into her eyes to reveal the reflection of a mushroom cloud from a nuclear blast. The statement’s "We must either love each other, or we must die" and "Vote for President Johnson on Nov. 3rd. The stakes are too high for you to stay home" are both made at the end of the commercial. The advertisement was only played once, but the message was clear; voting for Goldwater invites a nuclear war. By provoking the emotion of a war-weary United States, Johnson was able to defeat

However, many critics of negative campaigns have stated that voter turnout is reduced by negative ads along with the potential for public backlash against the political aggressor. While this seems like a logical repercussion, neither has proven to be the case (Kim and Patrick). Studies have shown that negative campaigns initiated by the incumbent are more likely to drive voters away from the incumbent themselves, but have no effect on swaying voters away from polls. Voters prefer to hear the political message addressing current issues of the incumbent and how their campaign is going to continue to make positive changes. Conversely, the same study concluded that negative ads by challengers do not face the same backlash. As the challenger, voters expect critical assessments of the incumbent’s