Kerry v. Bush: presidential ad wars begin
Leading expert on presidential campaigns examines recent campaign activity

With John Kerry unofficially clinching the Democratic presidential nomination, the ad wars for the White House have begun. President George W. Bush aired three television spots on March 4, while two more debuted on March 12. This marks the earliest general election campaign in history. William Benoit, professor of Communication and author of Campaign 2000, recently analyzed the initial themes and claims in this year’s presidential campaign.

Benoit found that, to date, Bush’s ad campaign statements currently stand at 71 percent positive, 18 percent negative, and 11 percent defensive. Kerry, whose 26 television spots during the primary were positive, recently posted his first general election campaign ad. In the primary, Kerry’s television spots were 67 percent policy based, with one third of his statements addressing character. Bush’s current five campaign ads are evenly split between policy and character.

"It will be interesting to see whether Kerry’s general ads are more negative than his primary ads," Benoit said. "Historically, general television spots attack more than primary spots. If Kerry follows historical trends when he begins running general television spots, he will emphasize policy even more than his primary ads."

Television is not the only mode of campaigning. People increasingly are using the Internet as a standard source of information. On their respective Web sites, each candidate has one ad, both of which are highly negative. Every statement on Bush’s ad attacks Kerry, while 95 percent of Kerry’s ad statements attack Bush.

The difference is found in the individual topics of the attacks. Kerry divides his ad equally with 52 percent of statements based on policy (including jobs lost, under-funding of the No Child Left Behind Act, health insurance and social security) and 48 percent on character (arguing that Bush did not keep his word in these areas). Bush’s web ad does not discuss any of the issues mentioned above, but only attacks Kerry’s character for accepting special-interest money.

Other information about the 2004 presidential campaign, along with historic contextual information, can be found at Benoit’s Presidential Campaign 2004 Website: http://presidentialcampaign2004.coas.missouri.edu/.

Additional links:

Bill Benoit
Department of Communication
Presidential Campaign 2004

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