Abstract:

The main problem of this study tackles with is the effects of the discourse in politics on the voters. What underlies this problem is the focus on how negative and positive message strategies used in politics affect the voters in terms of political persuasion. In this context, this study aims to reveal the effects of persuasion strategies, formed by using negative/positive political advertisements, on the voters. In this study, an experiment with a factorial pattern was designed from the experimental research models. Four different political ads produced were shown to the participants and the attitudes toward the source were measured. Both Johnson and Copeland (1991) and Ansolabehere et al. (1994) argue that although negative political advertisements sometimes show the desired effect on the targeted candidate or party, sometimes they can return to the source of the advertisement or the candidate quite badly. In this study, no such effect has occurred as described by Johnson and Copeland (1991) as a boomerang effect, nor as described by Matthews and Uhler (1998) as a black sheep effect. As a result, negative political advertising in the candidate's ruling or opposition position, does not adversely affect the attitude towards the source of advertising in particular.

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