Are sane people influenced by political ads?

[OAITW r.2.0]

Up here in Central Maine, watching YT TV - typically on MSNBC, I watched the same ads telling me that Jared Golden is the worst thing that ever happened to Mainers.

I voted absentee ballot a few days ago for Jared Golden. Even after listening to the same BS at least 500 times -in 30 second ads, 250 minutes of anti-Golden programming. It didn't take.

But hardly any attack ads against his Republican opponent, lobbyist Bruce Poliquin. I think we need to match the volume of ads that Republicans use to burn in our message with the impressionable voter.

[LakeArenal]

1. I think too many people rely on sound bites.

A catchy sound bite is a hook.

[ShazzieB]

2. I have a feeling those ads mostly affect low information voters.

I don't think I've ever been influenced by one, except in a negative direction.

What I mean is, there are people running for office in my state right now who I would never vote for in a million years, because they are at the opposite end of the political spectrum from me. No ad could ever change that; however, some of them are running ads right now that are making me absolutely hate their guts as opposed to just not wanting to vote for them. When you run an ad that smears a candidate I support and is full of twisted half-truths and outright lies, it tends to have that effect on me.

[Chainfire]

3. I think that sane people tune most of them out.

For the last two weeks, I have been getting four of five pieces of Republican full color, slick paper, hate brochures in the mail every day. If you believed what they said about Democratic candidates, we would have to hunt the Democrats down and destroy them..... Do the ads influence me? Hell yes, it reminds me why I am a Yellow Dog Democrat.

None of the Republican flyers are about policy, about what they intend to do if elected, it is all about what monsters the other side are. Hate sells. The crap goes straight from the mailbox to the trash, only glancing at the bold face type.

I don't watch a lot of commercial TV and only listen to NPR on the radio, so I have not been bombarded from that angle. To be quite frank, I have gotten where this site is my main source of news.

[OAITW r.2.0]

5. I get those, too.

7 x 10 shinny postcards that tell me how awful the Democrat is. Also get them from Democrats and Republicans. Regardless, I recycle before I leave the PO. Thing is, why are Democrats wasting their money on me? They already know I support them with serious financial donations. What a waste of money and resources.

[Ron Green]

4. I am sickened by them.

Does that count as influence?

[TigressDem]

6. It's repetition that can cause people to doubt if they don't already know the candidates.

Someone had a post about a scientific study that you could twist someone into giving an answer they initially KNEW was false.

Like is A the Pacific or Atlantic Ocean? Initially they knew the right answer but were given misinformation over and over again and when they came back to it later, the misinformation had more space in their brain and they gave the wrong answer.

Scary

[Takket]

7. everyone claims they hate political ads, but if they didn't work, politicians wouldn't use them

[Elessar Zappa]

8. I think they work on the 5-10%

of idiots who switch their voting preferences around every cycle. The so-called independents.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

9. Sure; people find the ones they agree with reassuring and motivating.

Propaganda is a thing for a reason: It works.