The Science of Political Advertising

How much do political ads really matter? This year campaigns will spend a good $3 billion on broadcast television ads. Yes, that is 3 billion dollars. A positive light shed on negative ads is that when the ad is negative, people tend to pay more attention to it. There was a study in 2005 in the American Journal of Political Science where colleagues found that campaign ads that make people feel fear caused people to go out and get more information and research politics. 

            Ads that had upbeat music or happy children that generated good feelings of enthusiasm reduced viewer’s interest and they didn’t go out to research the different candidates of elections. It seems to go that when a candidate is ahead in the election, they would use positive ads and save the negative ads for when they’re behind.

            Campaigners need to shake things up and make people anxious about different candidates when they’re behind. Sometimes they would be wary about using negative ads because of a backlash, however campaign workers see signs that negative ads can break through party affiliations and can also sway independent voters.

Brittany Aho

Body Language In The Final Presidential Debate

  There were many people who kept commenting on the body language in the first debate. Many were claiming Obama wasn’t giving Romney the attention or respect he deserved and he kept looking down at his notes. Some people argued that he was directing his attention at the audience and ‘America’. After so many comments from the nation about body language, I took a moment and decided to pay closer attention to president Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.

            Firstly, body language is a non-verbal communication we make both consciously and unconsciously. Body language is important (especially in an election during debates) because it’s how we judge one another. Some studies suggest over 50% of our judgments are visual.

            The third debate was a close tie on who had the better body language. Both candidates were behind a desk, which gave the audience more of a clear vision of their facial expressions. Personally on this debate I think Obama looked more comfortable and sure of himself. His smile looks genuine, which is a big likeability quality. Romney also did well, definitely more centered (not much swaying).  However, Romney looked more stressed. He stammered more than Obama did and didn’t seem to have that confidence he did on other debates. All-in-all both candidates did well in presenting themselves.

Brittany Aho

Political Ads In Ohio

The other day I was watching TV and then it went to commercials. The following commercials that I saw were completely ads for campaigns. It was unbelievable! The first two were about Obama. Then there was a short ad for the governors, which I do not remember who they are. The final two that came on were Mitt Romney. There were no other commercials that went on. To me it was kind of funny. At this point it’s just annoying how many ads they are putting up on TV. However, I can see how it could change some people’s minds.

            The content of these commercials were a little bit different. The first one that Obama had go out was putting Mitt Romney down. It showed how his economic plan will not work. The second one that showed was showing how he has helped so much. The second commercial was trying to make him look as good as possible. Mitt Romney’s first ad was quite similar because he put down Obama for not getting us out of this economic situation. The second ad showed how he would fix the economy if he was voted president. Both the ads were set up to tear down their opponent, and then make themselves look great. I thought the tactics they used were actually pretty affective.

            So you’re probably wondering why Ohio has all these ads. Ohio plays a huge roll in the election. It is probably the biggest swing state. That would be a great reason for all of these ads. To me it gets kind of annoying but it has to be done. Obama has spent 852.9 million on advertising. Romney has spent 752.3 million. Obama seems like he will have more TV commercials going out as we get closer to Election Day.

            However you look at it Ohio is a big state for Election Day. As long as this state stays a swing state there will always be a lot of ads. We will definitely have to get used to all of them!

NY Times Article on Political Advertising Spending

-Nathan Bond

The Third Presidential Debate: Fact vs Fiction

During the Presidential debates, it is hard to imagine the pressure that the two candidates for the presidency feel, but sometimes the pressure may affect their facts or what they say. They said that Obama's plan was to be on attack, which he was while Romney was trying to make sure everyone knew that he was not a huge advocate of war. Mitt Romney's laid back approach was probably due to the fact of the momentum and increasing support of his campaign over the past couple weeks.

President Obama was said to have won the debate by a large majority, but polls have shown that Mitt Romney's first huge victory in the first presidential debate made him the overall winner of the three. Many facts and accusations were thrown out during the debate, and I think that the article and video (that are linked below) really help to decide what was fact and what was the truth.

FACT: In the ABC News video, it shows that Romney did say that Detroit needed to go through a managed bankruptcy stating, "The federal government should provide guarantees for post-bankruptcy financing and assure car buyers that their warranties are not at risk." President Obama insisted that Romney was not telling the truth about this, but he was incorrect.

FACT: Governor Romney also stated that, "I'm saying in terms of a geopolitical opponent, the nation that lines up with the world's worst actors. Of course, the greatest threat that the world faces is a nuclear Iran." The Governor was talking about Russia being the biggest geopolitical foe and competition in the UN rather than in nuclear or warfare of any kind. 

FACT: Massachusetts led in areas of Math and English scores of the National  Assessment of Educational Progress while Romney was governor, and the results continued to increase over the course of his tenure.

FACT: When President Obama said that happened 10 years earlier, he was referring to the 1993 state law that led to the creation of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System. The law influenced the increase of money being invested into education and resulted in improved test scores over time. Obama was correct about the law being passed before Romney was elected as Governor, but the test scores are results from that plan and prospered through Romney's cuts of that program. 

FICTION: Mitt Romney stated that President Obama was silent during the students protests, but that is not correct. The President spoke twice saying that he was "deeply troubled" by what he was seeing on 6/15/09 and was quoted eleven days later saying, "Despite the (Iranian) government's efforts to keep the world from bearing witness to that violence, we see it and we condemn it." He was later quoted in December that saying that The United States was joining with the international community to condemn the violence and suppression of the innocent." Governor Romney was wrong about the President being silent.

MOSTLY FICTION: President Obama stated that Governor Romney agreed with his plan of sending troops into Libya and that Romney wanted to take the troops out before Qaddafi was taken out of power or defeated. Romney previously stated that he support President Obama's "specific, limited mission", which he said the President had defined "as humanitarian: We would enforce a no-fly zone to prevent Libyan forces from bombing civilians. I support that." Romney also stated that "to succeed, Qaddafi must go and go for good", and attacked the President, saying, "it is apparent that our military is engaged in much more than enforcing a no-fly zone." President Obama was not correct when criticizing what Romney said previously on Lybia and Qaddafi.

MOSTLY FICTION: In President Obama's first trips after being elected, he did in various speeches and interviews acknowledge mistakes made by the United States. An example is found when he was in Cairo, "Nine-eleven was an enormous trauma to our country. The fear and anger that it provided was understandable, but in some cases, it led us to act contrary to our traditions and our ideals. We are taking concrete actions to change course." Many are saying that this is far from an apology tour. President Obama never technically apologized for the actions of the United States.

MOSTLY FICTION: President Obama stated the Governor Romney, a few weeks ago, said that he thought there needed to be more troops in Iraq right now. Mitt Romney has never said such a comment, but did state back in March that we should have negotiated  an agreement with the Iraqis that would have allowed a follow-on force of about 20,000 troops after the withdrawal of combat forces. The President's Administration actually attempted to negotiate such an agreement but the talks failed.

 An ABC News video that reviews the fact and fiction of the debate.

An  Washington Post article full of graphs that display data from the third debate.

-Grant Ausbury

The Third Presidential Debate: Fact Check

An article doing a fact check of the Third Presidential Debate.

As a presidential candidate, stakes are pretty high; to win people over with your words and ideas, is to receive a vote that you didn’t have before. I understand how the candidates feel that exaggerations or ideals can win extra voters, but the fact that they have been utilizing ‘loose truths’ has caused me to lose respect for each of them.  

The Daily Beast was able to specifically address Romney’s consistent claim of Obama going on an “apology tour”.  If you’re going to make a solid claim, and address it in each debate, I really hope to God that it is a factual statement. Unfortunately for Romney, “Fact-checkers at Politifact, the Washington Post, and FactCheck.org have gone over those speeches Romney refers to and have concluded, time and again, that President Obama made no apologies for the United States.” The article goes on to explain that Obama has acknowledged that our country has made mistakes in the past, but “not once did he apologize”.

Obtaining the role of the American President requires a sense of maturity that, quite honestly, I’m not sure that Mitt Romney has. When Barack Obama acknowledged the past mistakes the US made, it was his way of showing the world that he is aware, and that he intends to make the future better than the past. This was a risky move, but for Mitt Romney to call it an “apology tour”, shows disrespect and lack of understanding.



My point here is not to favor one candidate over the other. I chose this article merely because it highlighted the subject that caught my attention; Mitt Romney pounded the "apology tour" and he was inconsistent with his reasoning. This landed him no where in my book, demonstrating that clinging to a 'loose truth' leaves you with egg on your face at the end of the day; lying to the general public in a leadership position gets you no where.

-Rachel Koch

How To Talk About Politics With Respect

An Epipheo Studios' video about Political Etiquette:

"Politics: The Monster In You"

Is it not the truth?

Over the course of the presidential debate, I have noticed people being incredibly rude about their political beliefs. I believe that everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but I do not agree with verbally abusing someone's beliefs whether on Twitter or to their face. In the video above, Anna mentions that there are places and times to talk about it and not to talk about it. If two people are having a peaceful and calm discussion (rather than argument) where they state their beliefs and are willing to listen to the other person, that is a fantastic thing. Many people feel as if they have to defend their beliefs and hate the other side/beliefs. I believe that the hatred of the other side completely unnecessary, and that a person should respect other people as well as their opinions.

We are an opinionated people and are entitled to speak upon our opinions, but with the mask/shield of social media in the common era, people feel much more comfortable sending out that tweet about how "Mitt Romney is a rich white sleaze bag" or "Barack Obama is ignorant and isn't a citizen of the United States." A great rule of thumb is not to use "name-calling" while speaking your opinion. Respect others whether they are in agreement with your beliefs or not.

Always use the complete truth or facts when you are discussing politics because it is very hard to respond to someone when they are saying something that isn't true. It will be very beneficial to both sides of the discussion if you will refrain from insulting the person themselves or their lifestyle. If you get sucked into an argument or a discussion turns into a heated and/or disrespectful argument, the best exit strategy is to say nothing at all or refrain from saying something rude or disrespectful. It can be extremely difficult to hold your tongue, but it is very necessary. There is no reason why friends, family or acquaintances should hate/dislike one another because of a heated argument about politics.

Politics does bring out very strong and/or passionate feelings because it greatly involves the person's life in many ways such as the following: money, religion, family or their futures. That being said, many people feel as though they need to defend their beliefs with a dagger in hand or the inner monster is unleashed. It does take a lot of effort to respect people's opinions, but always resort to etiquette including respect, consideration and honesty. 

-Grant Ausbury