Negative campaigning

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Negative campaigning ( called “ dirt bucket campaigns ” in Austria ) refers to a form of advertising or, in particular, political public relations work , in which the attempt is made to put the (political) opponent or competitor in a worse light in order to increase one's own reputation. In particular, private, but also public or business misconduct is instrumentalized in order to specifically scandalize the person, party or organization concerned . The main characteristic of negative campaigning is that it tries to evade factual arguments and instead focuses on personal discussion. This type of “dirty” election campaign is particularly widespread in the United States , while it is frowned upon in Europe and is therefore rarely used.

Advantages and disadvantages

Negative campaigning can a. cause that one's own credibility with the voter decreases (cf. Garramone 1984). In addition to the boomerang or backlash effect, i. H. the negative impact of the campaign on the credibility of the author (cf. Maier & Maier 2005), it can have a “demobilizing” effect on indecisive voters (Geise 2011: 163). In addition, possible coalition negotiations and formation (with the attacked person) after the election are more difficult or can lead to untrustworthiness.

On the other hand, there seem to be many reasons for negative election advertising: Negativity in the election campaign leads to more media attention (cf. inter alia Podschuweit 2007: 22; Schweitzer 2010b: 19). For this reason, negative campaigning can also be used to divert attention from unpleasant topics ( agenda setting or especially agenda cutting). Aggressive election advertising has a stronger effect on voters and leads to more attention from them, which Leidecker z. B. leads back to the fact that the “mechanisms of selective perception that are effective with positive statements are generally not used with negative messages” (2010: 121), which is why negative messages tend to be better remembered than positive ones. The credibility of political opponents, in particular, can be discredited by negative campaign messages (cf. Garramone 1984). Negative statements about the opposing camp can also represent an additional mobilization factor for one's own clientele (cf. Schweitzer 2010b: 19).

Regardless of the personal opportunities and dangers for the author, negative campaigning can lead to a loss of confidence in political institutions, disenchantment with politics and a decline in voter turnout (see Rhomberg 2008: 201). Research on negative campaigning or “negative advertising” (cf. Kaltenthaler 2000: 63) has a long tradition in the USA in which different understandings and definitions of the terms have established themselves (cf. Schweitzer 2010b: 18f.). For example, the (rhetorical) intensity of the attack or the topic of the message is often used to determine whether it is negative campaigning.

way

Negative campaigning does not necessarily have to take place “below the belt”. In fact, such examples are relatively rare. Much more frequent attempts are made to portray the competitor on a personal level as unreliable, dubious, ineffective or weak in character, or to publicly accuse him of private misconduct. So the aim is to highlight the negative traits of the other in order to weaken his image. This often takes place only subliminally, e.g. B. by so-called " push polls " - that is, supposed telephone surveys that actually want to convey a certain impression of the opponent (for example, in the USA the question was: "How would you react if Candidate B beat his wife?"). Offensive means of campaign work are e.g. B. " Attack Ads ", which are often produced by (supposedly independent) support groups in order not to appear with the name of the real author.

Examples

Austria

During the federal presidential election in Austria in 1986 , the so-called Waldheim affair came about, with Chancellor Fred Sinowatz ( SPÖ ) saying that “at the right time before the presidential election, a large-scale campaign would inform the Austrian population about Waldheim's brown past,” according to the news magazine Profil was played back. As a result, Sinowatz sued the journalist Alfred Worm for defamation. Worm was acquitted on the basis of a transcript. Sinowatz and other SPÖ representatives who had denied his testimony were sentenced to high fines in 1992 for false statements.

In the Austrian National Council election in 2017 one was Facebook campaign against the Chancellor candidate of the ÖVP , Sebastian Kurz , hidden out and the team of the Social Democratic Party adviser Tal Silberstein settled. The campaign developed into dirty campaigning . The exposure by Profil and Die Presse magazine led to the resignation of SPÖ federal manager Georg Niedermühlbichler and the suspension of SPÖ election campaign manager Paul Pöchhacker .

United States

"Daisy Girl" attack ad

One of the best-known "attack ads" was Daisy Girl - a TV commercial designed to promote the choice of Lyndon B. Johnson by portraying his opponent Barry Goldwater as a threat to world peace.

literature

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dirt bucket campaign ( Duden ), accessed on February 15, 2016
  2. ↑ Kim Leslie Fridkin, Patrick J. Kenney: Do Negative Messages Work? The Impact of Negativity on Citizens' Evaluations of Candidates. In: American Politics Research. Vol. 32, No. 5, 2004, ISSN  1532-673X , pp. 570-602, doi : 10.1177 / 1532673X03260834 .
  3. ↑ Christine Teuschler, Andreas Streibel: The parties in Burgenland since 1945. In: Herbert Dachs , Ernst Hanisch , Robert Kriechbaumer (ed.): History of the Austrian federal states since 1945. Volume 5: Roland Widder (ed.): Burgenland. From the border region in the east to the gateway to the west (= series of publications by the Research Institute for Political-Historical Studies of the Dr.-Wilfried-Haslauer-Bibliothek, Salzburg. 6). Böhlau, Wien et al. 2000, ISBN 3-205-98786-1 , pp. 429–502, here p. 449.
  4. ↑ Gernot Bauer : "We need an enemy" . In: profile . September 18, 2017, p.  16-18 ( online [accessed November 5, 2017]).
  5. ^ Gernot Bauer : SPÖ adviser Silberstein organized the right Facebook page against Kurz . In: profile . No.  40 , October 2, 2017, p. 18-19 ( profil.at [accessed October 1, 2017]).
  6. ↑ bang: SP national manager Niedermühlbichler resigns. In: The Standard . September 30, 2017, accessed October 1, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Gerald John: Causa Silberstein: SPÖ suspends alleged liaison man. In: The Standard . October 3, 2017. Retrieved October 3, 2017 .