Campaign Advertising and American Democracy »

Michael M. Franz is Assistant Professor of Government and Legal Studies at Bowdoin College.  His research interests include political advertising, interest groups politics, campaign finance reform, and mass media.  He has published articles in American Journal of Political Science, Political Communication, Political Analysis, Political Behavior, and Social Science Quarterly.

Paul B. Freedman is Associate Professor in the Department of Politics at the University of Virginia.  His work has appeared in the American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Public Opinion Quarterly, Political Communication, Campaigns and Elections, and Slate. Since 2000, he has been an election analyst for ABC News in New York.

Kenneth M. Goldstein is Professor of Political Science at University of Wisconsin-Madison.  In addition to publishing widely in academic outlets, his reputation for unbiased and non-partisan analysis has made him a favorite source for the national news media.  He has appeared on numerous network and cable news broadcasts as well as being quoted extensively in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal.  He is currently a member of the ABC News Election Night Decision team.

Travis N. Ridout is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Washington State University in Pullman. His research on political campaigns and advertising has appeared in the American Journal of Political Science, Political Behavior, The Annual Review of Political Science and several other journals. He also has served as an election night consultant for CBS News.

Campaign Advertising and American Democracy explores the relationship between exposure to political advertisements and voter behavior.  Contrary to widely held beliefs,  political ads do not turn people off to politics.

List of Figures and Tables     ix
Preface     xiii
Campaign Advertising: The Whipping Boy of American Politics     1
Campaign Ads as Information Supplements: A Spillover Theory of Advertising Effects     11
Measuring Exposure to Campaign Ads     25
Tracking the Volume and Content of Political Advertising     36
What, When, and Where: Making Sense of Campaign Advertising     52
What Did They Know and When Did They Know It?     68
Campaign Advertising and Voter Attitudes toward the Political Process     87
Campaign Advertising and Citizen Participation     105
Advertising Tone and Political Engagement     117
Campaign Advertising and American Democracy     136
Assessing the Validity of the CMAG Tracking Data     145
Assessing the Reliability of the CMAG Storyboard Coding     147
Datasets and Variables     151
Wisconsin Advertising Project Coding Sheet for 2000 Ads     161
Wisconsin Advertising Project Coding Sheet for 2004 Ads     167
Notes     179
References     187
Index     195