Raising the tone? The impact of 'positive' and 'negative' campaigning on voting in the 2007 Scottish Parliament election
Raising the tone? The impact of 'positive' and 'negative' campaigning on voting in the 2007 Scottish Parliament election
Most survey-based research on campaign effects in British elections has focussed on exposure to the campaign. Far less attention has been given to how the campaign is perceived, although American research on the effects of negative campaigning suggests that this is a potentially important area. The article investigates the extent to which vote choices in the 2007 Scottish Parliament election were affected by perceptions of the parties' campaigns as 'positive' or 'negative'. Partisanship and increased exposure to a party's campaign increased individuals' chances of rating a campaign positively. Other things being equal, however, campaigns which come to be seen in a negative light backfire on the party responsible, reducing the propensity of people to vote for it.
Campaign tone, Negative campaigning, Voting
Pattie, Charles
732a5537-37e3-46aa-9b03-e884cd1eb067
Denver, David
e78fe029-445d-4841-a29f-c44495bb0828
Johns, Robert
02861bc9-b704-49b1-bbc7-cf1c1e9b7a35
Mitchell, James
0c4ca906-da8c-4d12-b288-0b72a194fc2e
June 2011
Pattie, Charles
732a5537-37e3-46aa-9b03-e884cd1eb067
Denver, David
e78fe029-445d-4841-a29f-c44495bb0828
Johns, Robert
02861bc9-b704-49b1-bbc7-cf1c1e9b7a35
Mitchell, James
0c4ca906-da8c-4d12-b288-0b72a194fc2e
Pattie, Charles, Denver, David, Johns, Robert and Mitchell, James
(2011)
Raising the tone? The impact of 'positive' and 'negative' campaigning on voting in the 2007 Scottish Parliament election.
Electoral Studies, 30 (2).
(doi:10.1016/j.electstud.2010.10.003).
Abstract
Most survey-based research on campaign effects in British elections has focussed on exposure to the campaign. Far less attention has been given to how the campaign is perceived, although American research on the effects of negative campaigning suggests that this is a potentially important area. The article investigates the extent to which vote choices in the 2007 Scottish Parliament election were affected by perceptions of the parties' campaigns as 'positive' or 'negative'. Partisanship and increased exposure to a party's campaign increased individuals' chances of rating a campaign positively. Other things being equal, however, campaigns which come to be seen in a negative light backfire on the party responsible, reducing the propensity of people to vote for it.
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Accepted/In Press date: 6 October 2010
e-pub ahead of print date: 17 February 2011
Published date: June 2011
Keywords:
Campaign tone, Negative campaigning, Voting
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 489929
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/489929
ISSN: 0261-3794
PURE UUID: b8240da6-d041-47a7-bcc8-4dd0a5f4add0
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Date deposited: 07 May 2024 16:57
Last modified: 08 May 2024 02:08
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Contributors
Author:
Charles Pattie
Author:
David Denver
Author:
Robert Johns
Author:
James Mitchell
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