ABC - TV: Too Much Negativity, What Happened to Campaigning?

Monique Ozanne
meozanne@gmail.com


Post debate results showed Presidential nominee Barack Obama pulling head of Republican nominee John McCain. Despite these results, and the McCain Campaign knowing they needed to change up their tactics, Obama still prevailed in last week's debate.

Over the weekend however, a different story surfaced. Both campaigns have spent most of the past week campaigning all over Ohio, but the McCain campaign has shown a change in direction in their campaign. Outside of rallies in the past week there have been several reports about opposition for Obama displayed in a more racist style. In response to these and the other negative campaign ads, polls are showing that this approach may be backfiring against the campaign. Traditional Republican states such as North Carolina, where ABC was last night, are showing that Obama is pulling ahead in the race.


ABC news highlighted that the McCain campaign has gone off track and McCain seems more concerned with attacking Obama then campaigning.

Here is an example of the type of advertisements McCain's campaign has been putting out.


In contrast, Obama's advertisements have been covering his campaigning and how he plans on dealing with major issues.


Continuing 50 States in 50 Days
Among the coverage last night in North Carolina, ABC seems to be getting a little obsessed with polls. I have found that news outlets find polls a safe way to be able to make predictions and keep the topics and debates lively and entertaining. Not that the polls may not be true, but a lot of the election packages that ABC is producing are packied with full screen graphics displaying polling results. Their polls show a 26%-59% ratio of campaign ads that are attack ads between Obama and McCain. They also show a 2:1 ratio that the economy is a winning issue for Obama compared to McCain.

What will be most interesting in these final weeks is what the outcome of the final debate will be, and which states the candidates will focus on other than Ohio. We have discussed, and I have read and heard a lot about the anticipation of an October surprise.