Labour’s attack ads on Rishi Sunak: gutter politics or smart election campaigning?
Published: 14 April 2023
Commentary
Does negative political campaigning work? Here's what the research reveals about the impact.
The UK Labour Party launched a controversial and personalised attack ad on the prime minister, Rishi Sunak last week.
The image, tweeted from Labour’s official Twitter account, depicted Rishi Sunak alongside the words: “Do you think adults convicted of sexually assaulting children should go to prison? Rishi Sunak doesn’t.” Since then, Labour followed this with another personalised Twitter ad, highlighting how Sunak’s family has benefited from non-dom tax loopholes.
But is there evidence to show that this kind of campaigning is effective?
In this article for The Conversation, Ana Ines Lnger, Senior Lecturer in Political Communication, University of Glasgow, and Margaret Scammell, Department of Media & Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science look at the the research on negative political campaigning and its impact on voters' choices.
Read the article on The Conversation website
First published: 14 April 2023