Includes bibliographical references (p. [185]-194) and index.

The need for negativity: an introduction -- Assessing negativity -- The information environment and negativity -- Evaluating character attacks -- Evaluating the content of negative and positive issue appeals -- Dragging the truth into the gutter? The news media, negativity, and the 1988 campaign -- Negativity, democracy, and the political system.

Americans tend to see negative campaign ads as just that: negative. Pundits, journalists, voters, and scholars frequently complain that such ads undermine elections and even democratic government itself. But John G. Geer here takes the opposite stance, arguing that when political candidates attack each other, raising doubts about each other's views and qualifications, voters--and the democratic process--benefit. In Defense of Negativity, Geer's study of negative advertising in presidential campaigns from 1960 to 2004, asserts that the proliferating attack ads are far more likely than positive ad.

Description based on print version record.