Negative campaigning and its consequences: a review and a look ahead

Abstract

Research on negative campaigning has grown rapidly in the past decades. This article reviews the literature dealing with this campaign strategy. It discusses its definition and measurement and stresses the mismatch between the academic literature and general perceptions. It then reviews why parties and candidates choose to 'go negative' with a particular focus on the rationales for negative campaigning under multi-party competition. The manuscript further discusses the literature on electoral effects and broader societal consequences of negative campaigning and emphasizes issues related to data collection and research designs. The conclusion summarizes the state of the art and outlines avenues for future research.

Less Populist in Power? Online Communication of Populist Parties in Coalition Governments

“…Negative campaigning refers to rhetorical attacks and criticism of political opponents or, as formulated by John Geer (2006: 23), 'negativity is any criticism levelled by one candidate against another during a campaign'. In this respect, scholars assume that the opposition relies more on negative campaigning than incumbent parties do (Haselmayer 2019). According to Martin Haselmayer (2019: 361), the underlying logic is that governing parties 'benefit from their ability to emphasize their record in government and should therefore run rather positive campaigns'.…”

Decriminalisation of sex work in the post-truth era? Strategic storytelling in neo-abolitionist accounts of the New Zealand model

“…Raymond’s discourse infers that the NZPC should be treated with scepticism and that they are untrustworthy, aggressive and dangerous. This representation of the NZPC is akin to character assassination, a process through which a person or group’s reputation is deliberately tarnished through images and words, which has long been recognised as a political strategy to undermine the credibility of ‘the opposition’ (Haselmayer, 2019; Shiraev, 2014). In this representation of the NZPC, Raymond also perpetuates the stigma associated with sex work by implying that those most closely connected to the industry are dangerous and untrustworthy.…”

The Impact of Online Disinformation on Democracy in Taiwan

“…However, it may be the case that for those whose party was attacked by the post, their identification with their party increased as they sympathized with their party in the face of the inflammatory disinformation put out by the opposition. Negative campaigning has been shown to lead to a backlash effect, where the attacking party is evaluated lower [26]. This backlash effect can also positively impact parties who are neither the target of the attack nor the attacker [27].…”