Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Date of Graduation
Spring 2016
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
Department
School of Communication Studies
Advisor(s)
Lindsey Harvell-Bowman
Abstract
The goal of this study was to examine the impact of negative political advertising on a young voters’ emotions and his/her decision to vote in the next election. This was done through the lens of the theory of cultivation analysis. The theory stated that the more television a person watches, the more likely he/she is to believe what he/she sees is reality. Using a cross-sectional survey, 324 participants viewed one of four political ads or a control group ad. Although no significant evidence found that negative political ads would stop people from voting, some significant evidence suggested that negative ads demobilize voters and evoke negative emotions, which could affect their desire to vote in the next election.
Recommended Citation
Haveles, Andrew, "Too much television?: Does watching political ads influence if and how people vote?" (2016). Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019. 189.
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/honors201019/189
