92
votes
Accepted
Why do attack ads focus so much on Joe Biden's mental state but not Donald Trump's?
Because the Trump campaign crossed a line in 2016.
Before this point it was generally accepted, in American politics, that politicians and candidates did not use words such as "stupid" or &...
- 9,056
57
votes
Why do attack ads focus so much on Joe Biden's mental state but not Donald Trump's?
I suppose that I disagree with the framing of the question. I would argue that Trump's mental health and intelligence are frequently criticized. There are a plethora of news articles characterizing ...
- 13.6k
49
votes
Accepted
Why is the US broadcast media mostly banned from fact-checking political advertising?
Nothing prevents or bans the broadcast media from Fact Checking political advertising. But broadcasts are prevented from censoring political campaigns.
The issue has recently been investigated by ...
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46
votes
Why do politicians create more advertising badmouthing their opponents, rather than promoting themselves?
The United States system promotes a sharply divided two-party system. That's called Duverger's Law and like any such "laws" it is no ironclad automatism, merely a clearly observable trend.
...
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41
votes
Why would the Lincoln Project campaign *against* Sen. Susan Collins?
The article you linked to provides a pretty good explanation, directly from Reed Galen, a strategist for the group:
He said that for the most part, Republican dissent has been weak and that GOP ...
- 25.9k
33
votes
Accepted
Can a TV station refuse a politically oriented advertisement which does not comply with its editorial line?
Some ads are protected but John Oliver's isn't
In the US there is a federal law that requires TV stations and other mass media networks to give equal opportunity to all candidates running for an ...
- 1,167
31
votes
Why do attack ads focus so much on Joe Biden's mental state but not Donald Trump's?
The answer is consistency. If you look at videos of Trump campaigning 5 years ago he looks approximately the same as he looks today. His speech patterns in 2015 were odd, but they remain odd in 2020. ...
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25
votes
Why is the US broadcast media mostly banned from fact-checking political advertising?
The world is too complex and too many "facts" fall in a gray area. A famous saying is "there are lies, damned lies, and statistics."
"President Obama enjoyed 8 years of a declining deficit and steady ...
- 1,549
23
votes
Why do attack ads focus so much on Joe Biden's mental state but not Donald Trump's?
There are two different election strategies at play, mostly aimed at two different kinds of people. This is to be expected in most elections but the tunes that the two parties are playing are so ...
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20
votes
Why do politicians create more advertising badmouthing their opponents, rather than promoting themselves?
Most people, most of the time, think that things are pretty good, or at least tolerable, the way they are. As the US Declaration of Independence puts it "...all experience hath shewn, that ...
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19
votes
Why do attack ads focus so much on Joe Biden's mental state but not Donald Trump's?
For the Trump campaign, the aim is to project and deflect from concerns about Trump's own mental competence. For the Biden campaign, it's likely a combination of a desire to appear "above the ...
- 25.9k
14
votes
Why do attack ads focus so much on Joe Biden's mental state but not Donald Trump's?
I think this is, in part, due to the failure of the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016. Part of the reason many believe she lost was due to her campaign's focus on attacking Trump's personality, ...
- 950
14
votes
Why is the Cambridge Analytica story such a big deal in the US?
When you sign up with Facebook, you consent to sharing information with Facebook. You can read their privacy policy. If you don't agree with it, you can refuse to sign up for the service.
...
- 89.3k
13
votes
Accepted
Why is the Cambridge Analytica story such a big deal in the US?
The Cambridge Analytics situation was more a wake up call for something that has been brewing for some time.
Two tech giants, Facebook and Google, have long been under some scrutiny for selling ...
- 10.4k
11
votes
Accepted
I'm Jesse Talavera-Greenberg, and I approve of this message
You don't need that exact statement, but per 52 USC § 30120(d)(1)(B) you do need to have
a statement that identifies the candidate and states that the candidate has approved the communication. Such ...
- 13.8k
11
votes
Does the US government fund the media?
The reason there is a discrepancy that arose your need to ask the question is because the question is based on incorrect understanding of what the media companies do.
All of the companies listed (not ...
- 91.9k
11
votes
Why is the Cambridge Analytica story such a big deal in the US?
One area of great concern is that Cambridge Analytica executives apparently have fewer scruples than their peers. About 15 minutes into the Channel 4 undercover video here chief executive Alexander ...
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11
votes
Why do politicians create more advertising badmouthing their opponents, rather than promoting themselves?
Political ads cost money and have to be kept short.
It's pretty easy to pick one of your opponent's policy mistakes, flawed outcome or something they misspoke and weaponize that into a short, clear ...
10
votes
Accepted
What is the purpose for ads for candidates that are basically guaranteed to lose?
Multiple reasons:
Spreading information can win adherents to your party and grow the base even if it is currently small, both in the party and elsewhere (e.g. to advance the argument that California ...
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9
votes
Why do politicians create more advertising badmouthing their opponents, rather than promoting themselves?
Because they work.
Source: Being a political strategist/local politician in a Western democracy. Have had a lot of fun with highly effective negative campaigning.
it works.
But it works most ...
- 1,615
8
votes
Why do attack ads focus so much on Joe Biden's mental state but not Donald Trump's?
The reason why Trump is using this tactic is because it works.
In 1988, George H. W. Bush ran an extremely successful campaign against Michael Dukakis. Like Trump, early in the campaign, Bush steeply ...
- 727
7
votes
Why do politicians create more advertising badmouthing their opponents, rather than promoting themselves?
While you did not put a country tag, I assume that you are asking about the US.
As an alternative perspective: I have never seen that in France and it would be at least weird here.
Sure, during direct ...
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6
votes
Accepted
Supposed "Russia-linked" political ads placed on Facebook - are there examples?
Members of House Intelligence Committee released some of the Russian FB ads, as reported in November by Fox News as well as WaPo
They were seen by at least 10 million Americans according to Facebook, ...
- 176
6
votes
Supposed "Russia-linked" political ads placed on Facebook - are there examples?
It appears that most or all of the ads have been removed since facebook located them and they have not been released to the public, however the 3,000+ Kremlin-linked ads are being shared with congress ...
- 10.5k
6
votes
Why is the US broadcast media mostly banned from fact-checking political advertising?
Bias is difficult to filter and some times, the information is not correctly known. For instance, President Trump claimed in March of 2017 that his campaign had been spied on by the intelligence ...
- 95
6
votes
Why do attack ads focus so much on Joe Biden's mental state but not Donald Trump's?
The bottom line is that a campaign is going to highlight an issue if they think it will resonate. Trump clearly believes this one does. The question then becomes: why might he think that?
Biden has ...
- 3,951
6
votes
Why do politicians create more advertising badmouthing their opponents, rather than promoting themselves?
There are two reasons for this. The first as has been mentioned in other answers it is an attempt to get voters to change their vote from the opponent to the candidate who is running the attack ad.
...
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4
votes
Why is the Cambridge Analytica story such a big deal in the US?
There's a bit of a substory here politically. One of the stories that has been floating around is that Russia "interfered" with the US election by buying Facebook ads like this one
The ...
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4
votes
Why do politicians create more advertising badmouthing their opponents, rather than promoting themselves?
Avoiding danger and "bad" outcomes is more evolutionarily important to any species than is achieving optimal outcomes. For that reason, people are just naturally more primed to respond to ...
- 141
3
votes
Accepted
How effective are political banner ads by social media websites? Are obnoxious ads counter-productive?
tl;dr: No. This kind of tracking is extremely difficult and uncommon, especially among political groups which invest less in advertising and marketing than most private firms.
Click-through Rate
My ...
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Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible