Presidential Ads 70 Percent Negative in 2012, Up from 9 Percent in 2008

The 2012 presidential race is shaping up to be an overwhelmingly negative one, much more negative than the 2008 contest to date. 7 out of 10 of the ads aired in this year’s presidential contests have been negative -- that is, they mentioned an opponent. This compares to fewer than 1 in 10 ads aired during the 2008 presidential race up to this point that were negative.

Over 200,000 ads have aired so far. Candidate-sponsored ads, which made up 96.6 percent of the total airings in 2008, declined to just over a third (35.8 percent) of the total this year. Making up for most of the difference are outside groups (including Super PACs) who have sponsored almost 60 percent of the ads aired this year, compared to just 3 percent of ad airings in 2008. An estimated $112M has been spent to date on 207,000 ads compared to $190M spent on just under 300,000 ads in 2008. Much of this decline in spending and ad volume is due to the lack of a nomination contest on the Democratic side this year.