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Mapping the drivers of negative campaigning: Insights from a candidate survey
[journal article]
Abstract Which candidates are more likely to go negative, and under which conditions? We analyze self-reported survey data from candidates having run in the 2017 German federal election for the main parties. More specifically, we test a comprehensive set of factors supposed to drive the use of (a) negative c... view more
Which candidates are more likely to go negative, and under which conditions? We analyze self-reported survey data from candidates having run in the 2017 German federal election for the main parties. More specifically, we test a comprehensive set of factors supposed to drive the use of (a) negative campaigning in general, (b) policy attacks, and (c) character attacks. Our results show that for all three versions of negative campaigning the political profile of candidates is most important, followed by personality traits, perceived campaign dynamics, social profile, and available campaign resources. Within these categories, five factors are important across the board: members of the governing parties are less likely to attack, ‘extreme ideology’ of the candidate fuels the use of attack politics, candidates who believe that the media can persuade voters attack more often, disagreeable candidates tend to go negative, and male candidates are more likely to attack than females.... view less
Keywords
campaign; behavior; Federal Republic of Germany; candidacy; personality traits; political agenda; election campaign
Classification
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
Free Keywords
Negative campaigning; policy attacks; character attacks; candidate behavior; candidate survey; micro-level factors; context factors; Kandidatenstudie (GLES 2017) (ZA6814)
Document language
English
Publication Year
2021
Page/Pages
p. 1-17
Journal
International Political Science Review (2021)
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/0192512121994512
ISSN
1460-373X
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed