Negative ads and the GOP

By Heraclitus

The Republicans are focusing their efforts on negative campaigning, in an effort to steer attention away from the actual issues in this election. They know they can't win a debate about Iraq, the national debt, and so on, so they're hoping the voters will forget about those things if they make the Democrats seem scary enough. It has, of course, worked before. I'd actually like to post more on this in the future, and in particular on the effects of negative ads on women. I've heard that negative ads are much more likely to dissuade women from voting. I haven't done much research yet; does anyone know where to look? Thanks.