Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Empirical Research on Political Marketing: a Selected Review

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Customer Needs and Solutions Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This article reviews empirical research on political marketing. The goal of this selective review is to provide an overview of this body of research that crosses fields including economics, political science, marketing, information systems, and communications in order to make it easier for newcomers to quickly identify key papers and understand the state of the field. The review takes the perspective of the marketing literature and includes a discussion of data sources, modeling and methodological issues, and some selected, prominent topics.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. In fact, there are multiple categorizations of tone beyond the“talking about the opponent” definition given here. For example, the main WAP/WMP data categorize ads into “promote” ads that speak only about the advertising candidate, “contrast” ads that contrast the two main candidates, and “attack” ads that focus primarily on denigrating the opponent. In much of the empirical work, contrast and attack ads are considered negative ads, since they both speak about the competition.

References

  1. Albuquerque P, Lovett MJ, Peres M, Vidal-Berastain X (2018) The impact of biased social media on political races. Technical report, University of Rochester Working Paper

  2. Ansolabehere S, Iyengar S (1995) Going negative: how political advertisements shrink and polarize the electorate. Free Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  3. Ansolabehere SD, Iyengar S, Simon A (1999) Replicating experiments using aggregate and survey data: the case of negative advertising and turnout. Am Polit Sci Rev 93(04):901–909

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Ashworth S, Clinton JD (2007) Does advertising exposure affect turnout? Q J Polit Sci 2(1):27–42

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Belloni A, et al. (2012) Sparse models and methods for optimal instruments with an application to eminent domain. Econometrica 80(6):2369–2429

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Bendle N, Nastasoiu M-A (2014) Primary elections and us political marketing. In: Political marketing in the United States, Routledge, pp 103–129

  7. Bond RM, Fariss CJ, Jones JJ, Kramer ADI, Marlow C, Settle JE, Fowler JH (2012) A 61-million-person experiment in social influence and political mobilization. Nature 489(7415):295

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Broockman DE, Green DP (2014) Do online advertisements increase political candidates’ name recognition or favorability? Evidence from randomized field experiments. Polit Behav 36(2):263–289

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Che H, Iyer G, Shanmugam R (2007) Negative advertising and voter choice. University of California

  10. Chung DJ, Lingling Z (2014) The air war versus the ground game: an analysis of multi-channel marketing in us presidential elections. Technical report, Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 15–033

  11. Damore DF (2002) Candidate strategy and the decision to go negative. Polit Res Q 55(3):669–685

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Darr JP, Levendusky MS (2014) Relying on the ground game: the placement and effect of campaign field offices. Amer Polit Res 42(3):529–548

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. DellaVigna S, Gentzkow M (2010) Persuasion: empirical evidence. Annu Rev Econ 2(1):643–669

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. DellaVigna S, Kaplan E (2007) The Fox News effect: media bias and voting. Q J Econ 122(3):1187–1234

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Ellickson PB, Lovett MJ, Shachar R (2019) Competition and dynamics in the tone of political campaigns: theory and evidence. Technical report, University of Rochester Working Paper

  16. Feltus WJ, Goldstein KM, Dallek M (2018) Inside campaigns: elections through the eyes of political professionals. CQ Press

  17. Fletcher D, Slutsky S (2011) Campaign allocations under probabilistic voting. Public Choice 146(3-4):469–499

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Fowler EF, Ridout TN (2013) Negative, angry, and ubiquitous: political advertising in 2012. In: The forum, vol 10. De Gruyter, pp 51–61

  19. Gainous J, Wagner KM (2014) Tweeting to power: the social media revolution in American politics. Oxford University Press

  20. Geer JG (2012) The news media and the rise of negativity in presidential campaigns. PS: Polit Sci Polit 45 (3):422–427

    Google Scholar 

  21. Gentzkow M, Shapiro JM (2010) What drives media slant? Evidence from us daily newspapers. Econometrica 78(1):35–71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Gerber AS, Green DP (2000) The effects of canvassing, telephone calls, and direct mail on voter turnout: a field experiment. Am Polit Sci Rev 94(3):653–663

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Gerber AS, Gimpel JG, Green DP, Shaw DR (2011) How large and long-lasting are the persuasive effects of televised campaign ads? Results from a randomized field experiment. Am Polit Sci Rev 105(1):135–150

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Goldstein K, Freedman P (2002) Campaign advertising and voter turnout: new evidence for a stimulation effect. J Polit 64(3):721–740

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Goldstein K, Freedman P (2002) Lessons learned: campaign advertising in the 2000 elections. Polit Commun 19(1):5–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Gordon BR, Hartmann WR (2013) Advertising effects in presidential elections. Mark Sci 32(1):19–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Gordon BR, Hartmann WR (2016) Advertising competition in presidential elections. Quant Mark Econ 14(1):1–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Gordon BR, Lovett MJ, Luo B, Reeder J (2019) Demand for negativity. Technical report, University of Rochester Working Paper

  29. Green DP, Gerber AS, Nickerson DW (2003) Getting out the vote in local elections: results from six door-to-door canvassing experiments. J Polit 65(4):1083–1096

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Haenschen K, Jennings J (2019) Mobilizing millennial voters with targeted internet advertisements: a field experiment. Polit Commun, 1–19

  31. Hoegg J, Lewis MV (2011) The impact of candidate appearance and advertising strategies on election results. J Mark Res 48(5):895–909

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Huber GA, Arceneaux K (2007) Identifying the persuasive effects of presidential advertising. Am J Polit Sci 51(4):957–977

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Johnston R, Hagen MG, Jamieson KH (2004) The 2000 presidential election and the foundations of party politics. Cambridge University Press

  34. Kaye K (2012) Digital ad spend gap widens between Obama and Romney

  35. Krasno JS, Green DP (2008) Do televised presidential ads increase voter turnout? evidence from a natural experiment. J Polit 70(1):245–261

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Lau RR, Sigelman L, Heldman C, Babbitt P (1999) The effects of negative political advertisements: a meta-analytic assessment. Am Polit Sci Rev 93(4):851–875

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Lau RR, Sigelman L, Rovner IB (2007) The effects of negative political campaigns: a meta-analytic reassessment. J Polit 69(4):1176–1209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Li Xing, Hartmann WR, Amano T (2019) Identification using border approaches or ivs: theoretical and empirical comparisons illustrated in the context of advertising in presidential elections. Technical report, Stanford Working Paper

  39. Lovett M, Peress M (2015) Targeting political advertising on television. Q J Polit Sci 10(3):391–432

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Lovett MJ, Shachar Ron (2011) The seeds of negativity: knowledge and money. Mark Sci 30(3):430–446

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Masket SE (2009) Did Obama’s ground game matter? The influence of local field offices during the 2008 presidential election. Public Opin Q 73(5):1023–1039

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Masket S, Sides J, Vavreck L (2016) The ground game in the 2012 presidential election. Polit Commun 33(2):169–187

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Owen D (2017) New media and political campaigns. In: The Oxford handbook of political communication

  44. Pfau M, Park D, Holbert LR, Cho J (2001) The effects of party-and PAC-sponsored issue advertising and the potential of inoculation to combat its impact on the democratic process. Am Behav Scientist 44(12):2379–2397

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Phillips JM, Urbany JE, Reynolds TJ (2007) Confirmation and the effects of valenced political advertising: a field experiment. J Consum Res 34(6):794–806

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Ridout TN, Franz M, Goldstein KM, Feltus WJ (2012) Separation by television program: understanding the targeting of political advertising in presidential elections. Polit Commun 29(1):1–23

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Sethuraman R, Tellis GJ, Briesch RA (2011) How well does advertising work? Generalizations from meta-analysis of brand advertising elasticities. J Mark Res 48(3):457–471

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Shachar R (2009) The political participation puzzle and marketing. J Market Res 46(6):798–815

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Shaw DR (2008) The race to 270: the electoral college and the campaign strategies of 2000 and 2004/ University of Chicago Press

  50. Spenkuch JL, Toniatti D (2018) Political advertising and election results. Q J Econ 133(4):1981–2036

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Spiliotes CJ, Vavreck L (2002) Campaign advertising: partisan convergence or divergence? J Polit 64 (1):249–261

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. Stromer-Galley J (2014) Presidential campaigning in the Internet age. Oxford University Press

  53. Theilmann J, Wilhite A (1998) Campaign tactics and the decision to attack. J Polit 60(4):1050–1062

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Wang Y, Lewis M, Schweidel DA (2018) A border strategy analysis of ad source and message tone in senatorial campaigns. Mark Sci 37(3):333–355

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. West DM (2017) Air wars: television advertising and social media in election campaigns, 1952-2016. CQ Press

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Simon Business School, University of Rochester, 500 Wilson Blvd., Rochester, NY, 14627, USA

    Mitchell J. Lovett

Authors
  1. Mitchell J. Lovett
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mitchell J. Lovett.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lovett, M.J. Empirical Research on Political Marketing: a Selected Review. Cust. Need. and Solut. 6, 49–56 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40547-019-00100-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40547-019-00100-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation