Kim Fridkin Kahn

Do Negative Campaigns Mobilize or Suppress Turnout? Clarifying the Relationship between Negativity and Participation

Does negative campaigning influence the likelihood of voting in elections? Our study of U.S. Senate campaigns indicates the answer is “yes.” We find that people distinguish between useful negative information presented in an appropriate manner and irrelevant and harsh mudslinging. As the proportion of legitimate criticisms increases in campaigns, citizens become more likely to cast ballots. When campaigns degenerate into unsubstantiated and shrill attacks, voters tend to stay home. Finally, we find that individuals vary in their sensitivity to the tenor of campaigns. In particular, the tone is more consequential for independents, for those with less interest in politics, and for those with less knowledge about politics.

Creating impressions: An experimental investigation of political advertising on television

Using an experimental design, this paper addresses a few basic, but important, questions about the influence of televised political advertising. How effective are different kinds of political spots in creating impressions of a candidate among viewers? Do negative ads work better than positive ads in creating favorable impressions? Do spots that focus on issues create more favorable impressions that spots that stress the traits of a candidate? Do two ads work better than one ad in creating impressions? Can the effects of a spot be undercut by a follow-up advertisement from the opposition? This paper offers some tentative answers to these questions.

The Media: Obstacle or Ally of Feminists?

Under certain circumstances, media treatment can serve as an obstacle to womens achievement of their political goals. In other circumstances, the news media can act as an additional resource. It is quite clear that the early media coverage of the womens movement did not help the movement to grow. In fact, the press coverage of the womens movement, when there was any at all, was unflattering, and the movement grew in spite of the media. Similarly, the media treat men and women candidates differently in their campaign coverage, and this differential treatment can hinder womens access to the political arena. On the other hand, the discovery of the gender gap and its prominent play in the press probably helped women in the political arena. The media, by emphasizing the significance of the so-called womens vote, made women appear to be a more potent force in the electorate.

The Importance of Issues in Senate Campaigns. Citizens'Reception of Issue Messages

In this paper, we examine whether or not representatives are successful at communicating their policy priorities to their constituents. We focus our attention on the campaign period because campaigns serve as the primary mechanism for communication between elected representatives and the represented. We examine 57 campaigns for the U.S. Senate between 1988 and 1992 and determine to what extent voters became aware of the specific messages articulated during the course of the campaigns. We find convincing evidence that when candidates and the news media focus on a particular issue (i.e., the economy, health care, environment, education), citizens are more likely to recognize the issue as a campaign theme.