Time of Voting Decision and Use of Political Advertising: The Slade Gorton-Brock Adams Senatorial Campaign

Abstract

The impact of political advertising is much debated. Those studies that have attempted to assess its role in the mix of information available to the voter have clouded the question with contradictory results. This research suggests that the issue may not only be how the voter decides, but also when the voter decides. For those voters with strong partisan leanings, campaign information usually reinforces preference. Those who decide during the campaign typically make use of available information from a variety of sources, including political advertising. However, it is the undecided, those who come to decision during the waning hours of the campaign, who may be most affecteded by the candidate's last-minute advertising blitz. In an exit-poll survey of 414 Seattle area voters, 102 were identified as “late deciders.” As a group they were more likely to mention political advertising as helping them decide, better able to recall and identify specific political ads than those who decided either early or during the campaign. While “attack” advertising was the best recalled political advertising, it worked against its sponsors, galvanizing the “against” vote among late deciders.