With two-party system, negative campaigning seems necessary

Negative campaigning has been a big issue lately. Many people are wondering why this type of campaigning has become so prevalent over the past several decades. I believe this type of campaigning has become more popular over the years for a few reasons.

One of the biggest factors is the availability of mass media — television predominantly. Mass media has changed politics forever. With the use of television, a candidate has the awesome ability to reach millions of voters anywhere at any time. In order for these voters to remember the candidate, they must make the most of the limited time they have. The public tends to remember negative things more than others. This is well known, so the candidates use their limited time to try and bring down the opponent in a way that also will build themselves up.

Another key factor is that America historically is a two-party democracy. Because we only have the two parties that are of political significance, it becomes a one-on-one competition for votes. With a one-on-one competition it is to one’s advantage, not only to run a hard campaign, but also to discredit the competition. Most competitors will use any advantages they can get to be the one to come out on top.

As the competition gets tougher and the need becomes higher, we will see more of these types of negative strategies played because they have, unfortunately, been proven to work.

Gregory Bodine

Scotia