Institute of Governmental Studies

We examine the link between how politicians campaign and how voters perceive both them and the campaign generally. We focus on negative campaigning in particular. Drawing on data from the 1998 and 2002 California gubernatorial races, we find that voters do not necessarily perceive changes in advertising tone as they occur. Furthermore, they do not consider all negative advertising unhelpful or uninformative. Finally, those voters who are mostly inclined to support negative campaigning in the abstract-the politically sophisticated-are the least satisfied with campaigns, suggesting that factors other than the tone of advertisements may explain voter discontent with the electoral process.