Accentuating the Negative: Candidate Race and Campaign Strategy

Krupnikov, Yanna; Piston, Spencer

doi:10.1080/10584609.2014.914612

Cited by 29 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…We identify one such condition -the presence of ambiguous rhetoric. This finding supports the conclusion that voter reactions to black candidates do not occur in isolation but are conditional on the context of a campaign (n.b., Berinsky, et al 2011;Krupnikov and Piston 2015a). The impact of candidate race on voting behavior, therefore, is highly dependent on electoral strategy.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Clear as Black and White: The Effects of Ambiguous Rhetoric Depend on Candidate Race

Piston

Krupnikov

Ryan

et al. 2018

The Journal of Politics

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Campaign advisors and political scientists have long acknowledged the benefits of ambiguous position-taking. We argue, however, that these benefits do not extend to black candidates facing non-black voters. When a white candidate makes vague statements, many of these voters project their own policy positions onto the candidate, increasing support for the candidate. But they are less likely to extend black candidates the same courtesy. We test these claims with an original two-wave survey experiment varying the race of male candidates on a national sample of non-black voters. We find that ambiguity boosts support for white male candidates but not for black male candidates. In fact, black male candidates who make ambiguous statements are actually punished for doing so by racially prejudiced voters. These results clarify limits on the utility of the electoral strategy of ambiguity and identify a key condition under which prejudice shapes voter behavior.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Black candidates, for example, are more likely to be punished by white voters for sponsoring negative advertisements (Krupnikov and Piston 2015a).…”

Section: Ambiguity and Candidate Racementioning

confidence: 99%

Clear as Black and White: The Effects of Ambiguous Rhetoric Depend on Candidate Race

Piston

Krupnikov

Ryan

et al. 2018

The Journal of Politics

Self Cite

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show abstract

“…In contrast, Kaid (1997) finds that candidates who attack their opponents are viewed more favorably. In addition, more recent research suggests that citizens' evaluations of candidates in the presence of negative information can be conditioned by the characteristics of candidates (Fridkin and Kenney 2011), specifically by the candidates' sex (Fridkin et al 2009) and-in conjunction with individuals' racial attitudes-race (Krupnikov 2015).…”

Section: Public Opinion and Campaign Negativitymentioning

confidence: 98%

Negative Advertising and the Dynamics of Candidate Support

Banda

Windett

2016

Polit Behav

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Scholars have spent a great deal of effort examining the effects of negative advertising on citizens' perceptions of candidates. Much of this work has used experimental designs and has produced mixed findings supporting one of two competing theories. First, negative ads may harm candidates who sponsor them because citizens tend to dislike negativity. Second, negativity may drive down citizens' support for the targeted candidate because the attacks give people reasons to reject the target. We argue that the mixed findings produced by prior research may be driven by a disregard for campaign dynamics. We present a critical test of these two theories using data drawn from 80 statewide elections-37 gubernatorial and 43 U.S. Senate contests-from three election years and public opinion polling collected during the last 12 weeks of each campaign. We find that a candidate's support declines as her advertising strategy includes a higher proportion of negative ads relative to her opponent and that this process unfolds slowly over the course of the campaign.

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“…This approach has aided scholars' understanding of the determinants of vote choice as well. For example, much research suggests that negative attitudes toward black people undermine white support for black candidates in many cases(Krupnikov and Piston 2015a;Krupnikov, Piston, and Bauer 2016; Lupia et al 2016), including recent presidential elections(Krupnikov and Piston 2015b; Piston 2010).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Explaining Public Support for Counterproductive Homelessness Policy: The Role of Disgust

Clifford

Piston

2016

Polit Behav

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Federal, state, and city governments spend substantial funds on programs intended to aid homeless people, and such programs attract widespread public support. In recent years, however, government has increasingly enacted policies, such as bans on panhandling and sleeping in public, which are counterproductive to alleviating homelessness. Yet, these policies also garner substantial support from the public. Given that programs aiding the homeless are so popular, why are these counterproductive policies also popular? We argue that disgust plays a key role in the resolution of this puzzle. While disgust does not decrease support for aid policies or even generate negative affect towards homeless people, it motivates the desire for physical distance, leading to support for policies that exclude homeless people from public life. We test this argument using survey data, including a national sample with an embedded experiment. Consistent with these expectations, our findings indicate that those respondents who are dispositionally sensitive to disgust are more likely to support exclusionary policies, such as banning panhandling, but no less likely to support policies intended to aid homeless people. Furthermore, media depictions of the homeless that include disease cues activate disgust, increasing its impact on support for banning panhandling. These results help explain the popularity of exclusionary homelessness policies and challenge common perspectives on the role of group attitudes in public life.

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Accentuating the Negative: Candidate Race and Campaign Strategy

Cited by 29 publications

References 68 publications

Clear as Black and White: The Effects of Ambiguous Rhetoric Depend on Candidate Race

Clear as Black and White: The Effects of Ambiguous Rhetoric Depend on Candidate Race

Negative Advertising and the Dynamics of Candidate Support

Explaining Public Support for Counterproductive Homelessness Policy: The Role of Disgust

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