Attacking Mitt Romney appears to be a better advertising strategy for President Obama than stressing his own accomplishments, data from the Vanderbilt/YouGov Ad Rating Project continues to suggest.
YouGov uses a representative sample of 600 Americans, with an over-sample of 200 independent voters, for the poll. Results and a link to 鈥淭he Choice鈥� ad are posted at .
The latest ad to be analyzed is titled 鈥淪tretch.鈥� In it, a narrator says: 鈥淵ou work hard, stretch every penny. But chances are you pay a higher tax rate than him.鈥� A photo of a smiling Romney is featured while the narrator intones 鈥渢han him.鈥�
Independent voters indicated the 鈥淪tretch鈥� ad made them more likely to vote for Obama than a similar group who saw Obama鈥檚 more 鈥減ositive鈥� ad 鈥淭he Choice.鈥�
鈥淭hese data suggest that Obama should keep attacking Romney,鈥� said John Geer, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of Political Science at Vanderbilt and the leader of the Ad Rating Project.
鈥淒espite all the favorable coverage from the press, swing voters just didn鈥檛 view the positive ad [‘The Choice’] as very truthful.鈥�
Fifty-one percent of independent voters thought 鈥淭he Choice鈥� ad wasn鈥檛 truthful. That dropped to 37 percent when independent voters saw 鈥淪tretch,鈥� the negative ad.
Visit for data on all the ads that have been analyzed so far and to view the ads themselves.
痴补苍诲别谤产颈濒迟鈥檚 , a key sponsor of the project, aims to foster an engaging intellectual environment to explore how political institutions shape political debate, ameliorate conflicts and influence public policy.