Political Advertising On TV

[DMark]

I live in Nevada, considered a “swing state” and we are already getting lots of ads from Obama and Romney on TV…it is only going to get worse as the election nears.
A few questions:

1. If you were in charge of placing these TV ads, would you run Romney ads on FOX TV (pretty much your biggest fan base already) or Obama ads on MSNBC (more likely to vote for Obama anyway)?

2. In some of these ads, they ask you to call in to support their view - if I called in to tell them politely they are full of shit, will my call simply be tallied as a “support” call, or is there someone who will note my disagreement?

3. I know we ask this often, but do these ads sway anyone here on the boards? I have been told they might influence a few undecided independent voters - do you fit in that category and are these ads better/more influential than just reading up on the candidates and watching/reading the news?

4. Now that deep pocket supporters can pretty much donate a gazillion dollars if they wish, do you think this is going to change the outcome, or at least narrow the gap of the final election tally?

5. Would you agree that negative advertising is more aggravating than policy advertisements where the candidate simply says what they would do?

[core_dump]

@DMark

2. In some of these ads, they ask you to call in to support their view - if I called in to tell them politely they are full of shit…

Just in case you were tempted to actually do this: Never call in and never include your number on any questionnaires, donations, etc. Every year I would receive hundreds and hundreds of calls. I finally had to disconnect that line and flee the city.

For what it’s worth, my TV got shot up during a Hillary commercial and I haven’t missed it since.

Signed,
another swing state resident

[carnivorousplant]

@core_dump

Just in case you were tempted to actually do this: Never call in and never include your number on any questionnaires, donations, etc. Every year I would receive hundreds and hundreds of calls. I finally had to disconnect that line and flee the city.

Ah, I could give them the name and number of someone I do not like…

[74westy]

Persuading people to change their vote is a goal for political advertising but I think it’s even more important to motivate the people inclined to vote for you to actually show up at the polls so, yes, I would put Romney ads on Fox News and Obama ads on MSNBC for that reason.

[jebert]

@DMark

4. Now that deep pocket supporters can pretty much donate a gazillion dollars if they wish, do you think this is going to change the outcome, or at least narrow the gap of the final election tally?

If candidates didn’t think TV ads had an effect on voters, I don’t think they’d be spending tens or hundreds of millions on them. So, yes, I think the spending could easily affect the outcome.

[Ambivalid]

@jebert

If candidates didn’t think TV ads had an effect on voters, I don’t think they’d be spending tens or hundreds of millions on them. So, yes, I think the spending could easily affect the outcome.

I don’t think anyone who is involved in or follows politics closely would argue with the notion that ad spending influences the outcome of elections. But my question is in what way are the outcomes of elections influenced by advertisements? I cannot imagine that they directly sway the intentions of too many voters, one way or another. So what is the effect?