Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 224
•
Trim: 9¾ x 9
978-0-7425-2732-4 • Paperback • July 2004 • $46.00 • (£35.00)
Richard R. Lau is professor of political science and director of the Walt Whitman Center for the Study of Elections, Campaigns, and Democracy at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. He is also a member of the Institute of Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research at Rutgers. Gerald M. Pomper is Board of Governors Professor of Political Science Emeritus at Rutgers University and the Eagleton Institute of Politics in New Brunswick.
Chapter 1 The Problem of Negative Campaigning
Chapter 2 The Literature of Negative Campaigning
Chapter 3 Who Uses Negative Campaigning?
Chapter 4 The Effectiveness of Negative Campaigning
Chapter 5 Negative Campaigning in Open-Seat Contests
Chapter 6 Effects of Negative Campaigning on the Political System
Chapter 7 Normative Thoughts on Negative Campaigning
Chapter 8 Appendix A. Description of Studies Included in the Meta-Analysis
Chapter 9 Appendix B. Data and Methods
A timely analysisssss
— Bookwatch
This work is a valuable addition to the research on negative campaigning. It is also a valuable addition to research into the effects of a host of more traditional factors on the outcome of elections and voting behavior. The use of an extended data set on Senate elections and survey data on voter behavior/attitudes provides a worthwhile addition to research in those areas. Negative Campaigning is thought provoking and would be an excellent supplemental reader for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students in courses on campaigning, voter behavior, and democratic theory. Indeed, it is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in the forces that shape the American electoral landscape.
— Perspectives on Politics
Negative Campaigning is a timely and important book written by two leading political scientists. Using sound evidence and much good sense, these scholars have truly advanced our understanding of attack politics in Senate elections. Political observers of all stripes should, after reading this book, be less worried about the pernicious effects of negativity on our political system. There is far too much negativity about negativity and this book provides a much-needed corrective to such views.
— John G. Geer, Vanderbilt University
A timely analysis
— Bookwatch
·Offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of US Senate campaigns.
·Provides new evidence on the effects and effectiveness of negative campaigning.
·Challenges conventional wisdom.
·Uses sophisticated but comprehensible methods.
·Includes a complete literature review of the study of negative campaigning and the methods of meta-analysis.
·Combines empirical and normative considerations.
·Chock full of original data.
·Just in time for election year 2004, of immediate political relevance for students and practitioners alike.