New Ways of Evaluating Campaign Ads

New Ways of Evaluating Campaign Ads

Brookings Institution
July 23, 2012
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM EDT
http://www.brookings.edu/events/2012/07/23-campaign-ads

The 2012 elections are already featuring a broad array of candidate, party, and Super PAC advertising, as well as a large mix of campaign messages and tones. But how effective are these ads proving? What do they convey about the candidates and issues, and are they successful in getting messages across? Is the current crop of ads fair or misleading? And in the era of Super PAC dollars, how much impact will campaign advertising and messaging have in the 2012 election cycle?

On July 23, the Governance Studies program at Brookings will host a discussion on the efficacy of the new wave of campaign advertising. Researchers with Vanderbilt University and YouGov’s Ad Rating Project will present new data examining voter responses to current presidential campaign ads and discuss how this survey approach can inform civic debate and voter decision-making. The Ad Rating Project measures reactions of a nationally representative sample of voters, offering a new and systematic way to assess ads during the presidential campaign.

Introduction and Moderator

Darrell M. West
Vice President and Director
Governance Studies

Panelists

John Geer
Professor of Political Science, Vanderbilt University

Ken Goldstein
President, Kantar Media

Jeremy Peters
National Political Correspondent, New York Times

Doug Rivers
Professor of Political Science, Stanford University
Chief Innovations Officer, YouGov

Lynn Vavreck
Professor of Political Science, UCLA

After the discussion, panelists will take audience questions.