Bad for Men, Better for Women: The Impact of Stereotypes During Negative Campaigns

Fridkin, Kim L.; Kenney, Patrick J.; Woodall, Gina Serignese

doi:10.1007/s11109-008-9065-x

Cited by 69 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…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: 99%

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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Section: Public Opinion and Campaign Negativitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Negative Advertising and the Dynamics of Candidate Support

Banda

Windett

2016

Polit Behav

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“…Brooks (2010Brooks ( , 2011Brooks ( , 2013; Dinzes, Cozzens, and Manross (1994); Fridkin, Kenney, and Woodall (2009) ;Gordon, Shafie, and Cigler (2003); Hitchon and Chang (1995); and Krupnikov and Bauer (2014). Brooks (2010Brooks ( , 2011Brooks ( , 2013; Dinzes, Cozzens, and Manross (1994); Fridkin, Kenney, and Woodall (2009) ;Gordon, Shafie, and Cigler (2003); Hitchon and Chang (1995); and Krupnikov and Bauer (2014).…”

Section: Negative Ads and Candidate Gendermentioning

confidence: 99%

He Said, She Said: The Impact of Candidate Gender in Negative Campaigns

Craig

Rippere

2016

Pol & Gen

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Although there is evidence that negative advertising “works” at least some of the time, it has been suggested that going negative poses a special risk for female candidates because it violates expectations about appropriate behavior that are rooted in the traditional gender stereotypes still held by many voters. In this paper, we employ data from a survey experiment to examine gender differences in the effectiveness of one particular attack made by a challenger against an incumbent of the opposite sex in a hypothetical race for the U.S. House of Representatives. Our interest is not limited to the attack itself, however, but extends to the question of how candidates should respond when they are attacked and whether certain types of responses/rebuttals (including counterattacks) work better for men than they do for women, and vice versa, in terms of mitigating the damage inflicted by an initially successful negative ad. Overall, we find little support for the idea that the effectiveness of either attack or response (denial, counterattack, counterimaging, justification, accusing one's opponent of mudslinging) varies significantly according to candidate gender. Further, shared partisanship matters more than shared gender in shaping how voters react to the campaign messages of male and female candidates.

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“…However, some research suggests that candidate characteristics affect the reception of campaign activity (Fridkin & Kenney, 2011); for example, reactions to campaign negativity may differ depending on the gender of the candidate (Fridkin, Kenney, & Woodall, 2009;Herrnson, Lay, & Stokes, 2003;Hitchon, Chang, & Harris, 1997). Considering the possibility that candidate race conditions the effects of negativity broadens our understanding of this critical and much-analyzed campaign strategy.…”

Section: Campaign Negativitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…First, the ability of experiments to identify causal relationships is unmatched by observational data (Brader, 2005). Indeed, our use of experiments follows previous research that has considered how the demographic characteristics of candidates affect responses to negativity (e.g., Fridkin et al, 2009). In comparison, an analysis of candidate race and negativity using extant observational data would have serious drawbacks.…”

Section: Experimental Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Accentuating the Negative: Candidate Race and Campaign Strategy

Krupnikov

Piston²

2015

Political Communication

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This article examines the impact of candidate race and campaign negativity on candidate evaluations and turnout. Unlike previous research, we argue that candidate race and campaign negativity should be considered simultaneously. In order to test this argument, we conduct a survey experiment of a nationally representative sample of White adults and a replication study. While we find, consistent with previous research, that respondents unfavorably evaluate candidates who decide to sponsor a negative ad, there are two important exceptions to this pattern: When the ad sponsor is Black, among White respondents who view Blacks negatively, the penalty for going negative is disproportionately large, while among White respondents who view Blacks positively, the penalty for going negative is disproportionately small. More generally, our findings suggest that the effects of candidate attributes and campaign strategy on voter behavior should not be considered in isolation, as they are mutually reinforcing.

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Bad for Men, Better for Women: The Impact of Stereotypes During Negative Campaigns

Cited by 69 publications

References 39 publications

Negative Advertising and the Dynamics of Candidate Support

Negative Advertising and the Dynamics of Candidate Support

He Said, She Said: The Impact of Candidate Gender in Negative Campaigns

Accentuating the Negative: Candidate Race and Campaign Strategy

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