In the final days before the election, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama has outspent Republican candidate John McCain nearly 3-to-1 on television ads, according to a University of Wisconsin study.
One Ohio State professor says this imbalance of TV ads in heavily contested battleground states might lead to lower levels of uncertainty among voters on Election Day.
“Since Obama has outspent McCain almost 3-to-1 in television ads, voters are less likely to be ambivalent about the presidential candidates,” said Luke Keele, coauthor of the OSU study and assistant professor of political science. Voters are more likely to be ambivalent, or uncertain of which candidate they will choose, when ad competition is higher and candidates spend similar amounts on ads, Keele said.
The study examined the presidential race between President George W. Bush and former Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore, and found that voters in battleground states might become more confused about which candidate to vote for when they are exposed to conflicting messages from the two presidential candidates.
The absolute number of ads has no effect on ambivalence, Keele said; rather, it is influenced by the balance of ad numbers between candidates.
In addition, Keele said exposure to discussions between opposing candidates and information on the issues can lead to ambivalence.
According to the study, individuals with powerful party allegiances were less likely to be confused about which candidate to vote for when exposed to conflicting messages in advertisements.
Karl Snyder, a junior in criminology, identifies himself as an independent. Although he said he believes the volume of advertisements is unreasonably high, he said the ads can be informative.
“Most people convince themselves what they want to believe,” Snyder said. “By not listening to some of the issues raised in these advertisements, they are closing themselves off to a possibly valid argument.”
Benjamin Hallauer, a senior in political science, said the volume of messages have annoyed him.
“The constant political ads on television have led to displeasure about the election,” Hallauer said.
According to the study, Obama’s heavy volume of advertisements should pay off in the general election. “[Future candidates] should do what Obama did,” Keele said. “If you can put more advertisements out than the other guy, the levels will be unbalanced and less ambivalence will be promoted.”
Amber Phelps can be reached at [email protected].
