Negative television advertising wasn鈥檛 necessarily the reason behind the precipitous fall of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in polls for the , says a political scientist from .
Support for Gingrich in Iowa had dropped nearly 15 percentage points since December by the Jan. 3 caucuses, a time when more than $2.8 million was spent in the state by political action committees attacking Gingrich, according to. In December, Gingrich led in Iowa with about 30 percent in the polls.
But the ads attacking Gingrich for having 鈥渕ore baggage than the airlines鈥� have aired only in Iowa, points out and co-director of the at Vanderbilt University, .
Nationally, Gingrich鈥檚 approval ratings dropped about 13 percentage points during the same period, without any negative ads in the mix.
鈥淥nce Gingrich became a serious contender 鈥� the media began to scrutinize him more carefully,鈥� Geer said in the Politico article. 鈥淭he resulting stories did not paint a favorable portrait. The bottom line is that Gingrich鈥檚 checkered record 鈥� not the attack ads 鈥� drove his decline in the polls.鈥�
Geer is the author of .
For more Vanderbilt expertise on the presidential election, see the